


Locked Out Of Heaven's Gate

by FolieAMania



Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Eventual Smut, M/M, Surprise Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-03-12 19:50:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13554381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FolieAMania/pseuds/FolieAMania
Summary: Patrick and Joe are angels, but they aren't allowed to go into heaven just yet. They have to guide their soulmates to each other without being able to actually communicate with them. They don't know why their soulmates have to meet, but God told them that was the only way to grant them access to Heaven. Will they be able to get Pete and Andy to meet, or will they need a boost over Heaven's Gate?





	1. Heaven's Gate

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work ever, so I'm sorry if it's really really bad. I'll probably look back at this in a few years and cringe, but hey, at least I'm doing it!

"Where the fuck are we?" Joe groaned, getting up from the cold hard ground in which he found himself laying. 

Patrick was beside him, still passed out cold. Joe tried shaking him to get him to wake up, but he wouldn't budge. He checked his pulse, thinking there would for sure be one. However, he couldn't find it, which made him very worried. He started checking everywhere on Patrick's body for any sign of life, but he couldn't find it. Joe put his hand over Patrick's chest, trying to feel a heart beat, but there was nothing

"W-what are you doing, man? Get off of me!" Patrick yelled suddenly, his eyes shooting open. 

Joe almost fell over from the shock. He quickly scrambled to get off of Patrick, and was then standing. 

"I thought you were dead! I couldn't feel your pulse anywhere!" Joe retorted frantically. 

"Where are we?" Patrick asked, getting to his feet and looking around. 

The boys couldn't see much. They were standing on a cold, marble ground that was pure white. The breeze was blowing Joe's curly hair into his face, and it was distracting him. There was a thick layer of fog which prevented the boys from seeing anything that wasn't right in front of them. Suddenly, they both felt incredibly cold. 

"Why did it get so cold all of a sudden?" Joe asked, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to keep them warm. 

"Sorry, that's me," They heard a strange voice say from behind them.

Joe and Patrick exchanged glances before turning around. Behind them was an extremely old man. His beard touched the ground and then dragged along beside him. He had glasses with huge brims, and his face had more wrinkles than anyone else either of them had ever seen. 

"Who are you?" Patrick asked, adjusting his trucker hat that had been misplaced by the breeze. 

The man just chuckled a bit, confusing Joe and Patrick, before replying "Well, I'm God. Nice to see you again, Joe Trohman and Patrick Stump." 

Joe just laughed nervously while Patrick's mouth gaped open wide. 

"Do you boys not remember how you died? Well, it was quite quick, so I wouldn't expect you to." The man replied. 

The boys both nodded their heads 'no' quickly, neither of them recalling anything before lunch time that day. 

"Well, you were on your way to the library to study for your Chemistry exam. Then a truck slid on ice and hit you two. Oh, what a tragedy. The driver survived, he still had a whole lot of life left to live-" He explained, before Joe interrupted.

"He had life left to live? What about us? We were in high school!" 

"Joe, calm down-" The man tried to say.

"No, I agree with Joe! Why would you kill us! We hadn't lived life! We never got to graduate or go to college or fall in love!" 

"Aha!" God yelled, which shut the boys up instantly, "Patrick has it! You two never got to fall in love! That's where I'm headed with this. Have you boys noticed neither of you are angels yet?" 

The boys quickly examined each other with their eyes. It was true; neither boy had wings nor a halo, and neither looked heavenly in the slightest. They just looked like, well, themselves. 

"Yeah, I guess, but, uh, what does that have to do with..." Patrick replied. 

"You two need to 'earn your wings' so they say down on Earth."

"And how do we do that, exactly?" Joe asked. 

"You need to find your soulmates, and bring them together. I can't tell you why, but I can guarantee it will earn you your wings." God explained. 

"How can we bring our soulmates together if we're dead?" Patrick asked. 

"Well, boys, that's the challenge! But I will say, they both went to the same high school as you two did. All you guys have to do is find who they are and get them to be friends. Okay?" 

"But how do we know you're actually going to give us our wings?" Joe asked. 

"Trust me, I'm God. Now, you guys must be going now! I'm sending your souls back down to Earth. Good luck, you have a week!"

"A WEEK!?" They yelled in unison, before both of them were sucked from Heaven.


	2. Andy and Pete

Andy Hurley was always the one sitting in the back of the class, drumming with his pencils and not paying attention to a word that any of his teachers muttered. Despite this, he got pretty good grades, and was even know to be sort of a nerd. Maybe that more more due to the people he was known to hang out with, though. 

If Andy was a nerd, then Pete Wentz was the complete opposite. He was in the popular crowd; star of the school's soccer team and extremely musically gifted. He was known for his various bands and all of his dating scandals. The latest gosip floating around the school always had to do with Pete's various ex boyfriends and girlfriends bickering with one another, trying to win his affection. Pete was untouchable, and would have nothing to do with anyone like Andy. He didn't even know Andy existed. 

Joe and Patrick arrived back in their old high school. It was the day after they had died, and everyone that had known them was wearing black and sulking. Some girls were even crying, mostly to get attention. Most people at their school didn't even know Joe and Patrick; they just knew that two kids had gotten hit by a truck yesterday and died. Teachers exchanged sorrow-filled glances with one another, and the councilors office was filled with grief-stricken teenagers pretending to care to get out of class. 

It made Joe kind of sad to see everyone faking their tears. He couldn't find any of his close friends at the school; they had stayed home that day. Patrick and Joe were close friends, and had a friend group of a few people they were close to. That was about it. The people at school that day didn't even know of their passings until they were informed by their teachers that morning. 

When Pete heard the news, he wasn't exactly sure how to feel. Sure, he'd never talked to the guys, but he'd heard about what they could do with their instruments. Joe and Patrick were thinking about starting a band, and Pete secretly wanted in on it, knowing how good they were known to be. However, that couldn't happen now. 

Andy had friends who were close to Joe and Patrick, so he knew of their passing before arriving at school that day. He hung out with those friends to try to help them deal with their grief a bit. 

"I... I just can't believe they're gone..." Gerard said, his head in his hands at the lunch table that day. 

"I know, right? They just wanted to go to the library and then, boom. All over..." Mikey replied, tears in his eyes. 

Andy looked at his friends, who were both on the verge of tears at this point. His other two friends, Frank and Ray, had stayed home that day. Gerard and Mikey's parents had forced them to go to school, despite what had happened to their close friends. 

"Look, guys, I... I didn't know Joe and Patrick as well as you did. I only met them a few times, at DnD occasionally. But I know from you guys that they were amazing, kindhearted people. They wouldn't want you to be sad over this. I know you will be, because they're gone, but they're still watching out for you. I'm not particularly religious, but the universe has its ways. Joe and Patrick will always be looking out for you, no matter what."

Gerard and Mikey looked up from the table and smiled at Andy, tears still peaking out of the corners of their eyes. 

"You know, Andy's right. It's in out human nature to be sad, because they're gone, but they wouldn't want us to be. They'd want us to think about the good times," Gerard replied. 

"Yeah, the good times..." Mikey repeated, "hey, Andy, remember when you had a crush on Joe?" 

Andy suddenly turned bright red because of Mikey's words. It was true; he did remember seeing Joe at DnD and his heart starting to race when his eyes met Joe's beautiful blue ones. 

"Yeah, I remember that. Remember when we played DnD for 24 hours straight, and had to chug ten Monsters to stay up? Then we just crashed in your guys' basement for a whole day afterwards." Andy recalled. 

The boys reminisced about their lost friends until the lunch period was over. Joe and Patrick had been watching the whole time. 

"A-Andy had a crush? On me?" Joe studdered. 

"And you never realized? It was painfully obvious. He'd always try to seduce your character in DnD and he'd literally never take his eyes off of you when you were in the same area." Patrick replied.

"R-really? Ah, damn it! He is my soulmate isn't he? I missed my chance! I could've had a life with him! But no, I just had to fucking die! I-" 

"Whoa whoa whoa! I never said anything about him being your soulmate. I just said he had a crush on you, and you apparently felt similarly. How can you be so sure that he's the one?" 

"I can just... I cant just tell, now. You'll understand when you find yours, Patrick. You'll know."


	3. Music Room Drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and comments :) Here's Chapter 3, I hope you like it! I'll try to post a chapter every Wednesday!

Pete noticed that the Way brothers weren't doing too well. They all had Music History together during 6th period. Although he didn't really interact with them, at all, he thought I'd be okay to check up on them before class started. He made his way over to their desks, where they sat right next to each other. 

“Hey guys,” Pete started awkwardly, “uh, how are you holding up?” 

“We don't need your pity-party, Wentz,” Mikey snapped.

“Mikey, wait. He's just trying to be nice,” Gerard replied. 

“No, he's not. He's just trying to look like a nice guy, when in reality he doesn't even care! He didn't know them, so he doesn't care!” Mikey yelled, standing up from his desk and getting into Pete's face. 

“No really, I don't want any trouble!” Pete replied, putting his hands up. 

“Mikey, stop!” Gerard yelled, getting up from his desk. 

Gerard tried to grab Mikey, but his reflexes were too slow. By the time he grabbed Mikey and pulled him back, Pete’s nose was displaced and bleeding badly. He held his nose as the teacher walked into the classroom. 

“Way. To the office, now. Mr. Wentz, I'll write you a pass to the nurse's office.” The teacher said solemnly, pulling a pass out from his desk. 

Gerard sat down in his desk quietly. He watched his brother walk out of the room. If he had a tail, it would have been tucked between his legs with defeat and guilt. Pete was helped down to the nurse by his friend Brendon. 

Joe and Patrick, however, were not following the Ways and Wentz. Joe was fixated on watching Andy, and everything he did throughout the day. 

“Joe, shouldn't we, uh, I dunno, try to find my soulmate so we can figure out who to bring together? We only have a week to do this, remember?” Patrick tried to reason. 

Joe didn't hear him, or rather, he wasn't listening. He was too fascinated with every move Andy made. Maybe it was the way his hair fell around his face, or the way his eyes sparkled, but Joe was attracted to something about the boy. Or, maybe it was everything about him. He wasn't quite sure, but all he could think about was the life he never got to live with Andy. 

“We were supposed to grow old together. We were supposed to have a family. That's what soulmates do, y’know? But we can't do that now, because, well, I'm fucking dead now.” Joe thought aloud. 

Patrick felt bad for Joe. He placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. 

“Hey, I'm sorry that you never got to live a long life. I get it, I'm literally in the same boat as you. But we have to focus on our mission. We don't know what will happen when we bring our soulmates together, but maybe we won't only earn our wings, but maybe we’ll be able to be with them somehow? It'll work out for us, Joe, but we just have to focus. Got it?” 

Joe looked back at Patrick and nodded his head, “Yeah, I'm sorry I got off track it's just that,” he returned his gaze to Andy, “my soulmate is so fuckin’ hot.” 

The boys laughed momentarily. The laughed like no one was listening, and well, no one was, because the were dead. The momentary joy they felt was just that, because suddenly the bell rang, and it was time for Andy’s next class. 

“So, how are we going to find your soulmate?” Joe asked as the two boys wandered the halls during passing period.

The high school was just as crowded as when they'd left, of course, but they didn't have to worry about the traffic rules of the hallways anymore. The dead boys just passed right through people without feeling anything. They passed by their old lockers, and noticed people had set out memorials on their lockers. Their lockers had their pictures on them, and some people had left flowers near them, which disrupted the traffic of the halls as people tried not to step on them. 

“I'm not sure,” Patrick replied, “but they go to this school, so it shouldn't be that hard. Maybe I've met them already, like you with Andy.” 

“Well, is there anyone you had a crush on here? Maybe we could start there?” Joe suggested. 

Patrick wracked his brain for a moment. He'd had a multitude of crushes in the past, but none that he'd ever thought of pursuing. 

“Well,” Patrick replied, “there was this one guy…” 

Patrick and Joe searched all of the classes in the front of the school, especially the music hall, where he knew his crushes’ seventh period class was. 

“Huh, he's not here,” Patrick said as he peered around the Music Room. 

“Gerard is in this class, but isn't Mikey here too? Where’d he go?” Joe asked, pointing out Mikey’s empty desk next Gerard. 

“There's like, two other desks empty too, I wonder what happened.” 

Patrick's eyes widened with realization, “Oh no.” 

Pete and Brendon were in the nurse's office for all of sixth period, and even the beginning of seventh, which was their regular Music class. The nurse tried to adjust Pete’s nose to see if it was just misplaced, but it seemed to be broken. 

“You might have to go to the hospital to get that properly taken care of. That boy must've gotten you pretty good.” The nurse said. 

Meanwhile, in the office, Mikey's and Pete’s parents were talking to the principal. Mikey was sat in a chair outside of where they were talking, staring at the ground on the verge of tears. In the moment that he'd punched Pete, he was full of so much anger that he couldn't even control himself. He was never like that, and he didn't like the feeling it gave him. He just missed Joe and Patrick so much that he couldn't control himself. 

“They're probably so mad at me,” Mikey said out loud into the empty hallway. 

“Mikey, we're not mad at you,” Patrick said, knowing that he couldn't hear him. 

“God, I wish he knew that.” Joe said as Mikey started to sob. 

Brendon and Pete headed to the office, and as they did they discussed the dead boys. 

“Some people think it was actually a kind of lover’s suicide, like they were secretly in love with each other and they knew it could never be,” Brendon speculated. 

“Those are just stupid rumors Brendon. They got hit by a damn truck.” Pete replied coldly, holding an ice pack up to his nose. 

“Damn, man, I'm just trying to make light of a serious subject,” 

“There's no need to make light of death, Brendon. Death is dark, and there's no reason to make light of it. That's not how it is.”

“Whatever bro, no need to be so serious. You're defending some dead dorks now?” Brendon replied. 

“Urie you say one more thing I swear to god your reputation will be ruined,” Pete replied, stopping in his tracks in front of the main office and turning towards Brendon, “don't talk about dead people like that. It's disrespectful to everyone, their friends, their family, everyone! Get your ego checked.” 

Brendon just blinked and muttered an apology quickly. This would suffice to Pete for now, but he was still incredibly angry. 

Patrick and Joe made it to the main office and looked inside. Sure enough, sitting there were the Way’s (excluding Gerard) and the Wentz’s, with a bonus of exactly who Patrick was looking for. 

“Him,” Patrick said, pointing to a chair at the very back of the office. 

“Him? You had a crush on Brendon Urie?” Joe asked, not expecting that answer. 

“It was just a dumb little crush, Joe. You asked me who I liked, and I answered. But seeing him now, I don't really feel anything. He's just aesthetically pleasing, but I bet most would agree with that,” Patrick replied, looking at Brendon. 

“He just punched me! I was trying to be nice, because he and Gerard weren't doing too well, so I wanted to share my condolences,” Pete explained to the principal. 

“Mr. Way, what do you have to say for yourself?” The principal asked. 

“He doesn't mean it… Pete doesn't mean it. He didn't lose anyone, but I did. He didn't know them, but he and the rest of the popular kids are acting like they loved Joe and Patrick, even though most of them didn't even know of their existence! But I knew them, and they were close to me, and now they're just gone! Look, I shouldn't have resorted to aggression, but I was angry! My friends are dead, and here comes the popular boy trying to rack up popularity points by acting like he cares,” Mikey explained.

“I see,” The principal said, looking the boys and their parents over, “boys, please go to the hallway for a moment, I want to speak to your parents alone. Mr. Urie, go back to class, you are no longer needed here.” 

Brendon nodded, and the three boys stood up and left. Patrick and Joe followed close behind them. 

“So, Mikey, were Joe and Patrick, like, dating, or?” Brendon asked once the door to the office was closed. 

“Brendon shouldn't you be going back to class?” Mikey replied in a snarky manner. 

“Damn, I was just wondering. Bye, I guess. I'll see you later, Pete.” 

Brendon disappeared around the corner heading back to class, leaving Pete and Mikey in an awkward silence. 

“I'm sorry about Patrick and Joe, Mikey,” Pete said, the crunching the ice in the ice pack that was in his hands, “I didn't know them directly, but I'd heard of them and seen them around. I'd heard about their music, and heard they were pretty good, like, really good, actually. That true?” 

Mikey continued to stare at the floor, but still replied to Pete's question: “Yeah, they were really good. We were going to start a band. Patrick on drums, Joe on guitar, me on bass, Gerard on vocals. Frank and Ray, our other friends, were going to help with lyrics and producing. But we can't now, obviously.” 

Patrick remembered their band’s practices. He'd always been passionate about drums, and had been pretty decent at singing as well. Patrick and Joe brought up the idea of starting a band to those guys, and they all agreed. They had a few practices and had been in the process of writing their first songs, but nothing was ever finalized. They mostly just goofed around on their instruments for hours on end. 

“Hm, I could picture that, actually. You all in a van, touring and shit. That's what I want to do. I want to leave and explore the world with friends and make music. That's the dream.” Pete replied, trying hard to make conversation through the pain of his throbbing nose. 

“I wouldn't take you as the exploring type, Wentz. I thought you'd play it safe with some soccer scholarship, go to college, get a job as a lawyer or something,” 

“Ha! Me? A lawyer? I could not imagine doing anything like that,” Pete laughed, causing both boys to break the ice a little. 

The two talked for a bit, until the principal called them back into the office. Both Joe and Patrick followed them in, now invested in what would happen between the boys. Being dead, there wasn't much else they could do besides watch events unfold before them. That was exactly what they intended to do, until they found Patrick’s soulmate. Then, they'd need to figure out how to bring two people together without being able to communicate with them, at all. 

“So, your parents and I have decided, given the circumstances of this particular situation, that Mr. Way will not be expelled or suspended,” Mikey sighed a sigh of relief before the principal continued, “but he must complete ten hours of community service for his actions.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Winston,” Mikey said to the principal. 

Community service was not bad at all, considering his school’s harsh disciplinary rules. Mikey thought for sure he'd at least be suspended for a few days. 

“Mr. Wentz, you can go with your parents now, you're going to get your nose checked out. Go get your things and come back here once you're done.” 

Pete and Mikey left the room and both sighed. 

“Damn, dude, I thought for sure you'd be suspended. I felt so bad,” Pete said. 

“You felt bad?” Mikey questioned. 

“I didn't want you to get in trouble, Mikey,” Pete said. 

Mikey stopped for a second, Pete’s words sinking in. Pete stopped as well, and asked Mikey what he was doing. Mikey simply replied, “you're cooler than I thought, Wentz.” 

Something about that statement sparked something in Patrick. It was an interesting feeling that he couldn't quite identify at first. He felt a lump in his gut when he saw the way Mikey looked at Pete. It swirled in his body, and he wasn't sure why. It wasn't jealousy, no, it couldn't be. He didn't say anything to Joe, though, and the boys just watched Mikey sit down at his desk and Pete grab his stuff and leave.


	4. One Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentines Day! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I've loved writing this story so far.

Andy walked home that day. He usually did, but something felt off. It felt different. It was only when he was halfway home that he realized what was missing. It made him stop in his tracks, and he felt like he couldn't progress further. He remembered that everyday, he'd see Joe walking home too. Sometimes they'd exchange a few words, but usually Andy would just stare at the boy from afar. He remembered Joe’s eyes the most; those sparkling blue stars stuck into his skeleton. They made Andy feel a gush of lovey-dovey emotions just thinking about them.

When Andy realized what he was doing, he quickly shook his head in an attempt to shake away the thoughts. I can't think about a dead boy like this. He's dead. He's gone, Andy thought. Those words, dead and gone, they made a wave of sadness overcome him. It made Andy kind of angry. Why did I fall for him after he died, damn it! Andy kicked the snow up beneath his feet, and only thought about how crazy he probably looked after the fact. He walked home quickly after that, and found a note on his door. 

Meet at Iero’s - R

Andy took the note and crumbled it up in his hand. He wasn't in the mood to hang out, but he knew he needed to be there for his friends. He took the school stuff out of his book bag and piled in his DnD stuff, as well as his drum sticks. Frank had a bunch of instruments that their group of friends would use occasionally. 

Joe followed Andy, not knowing what else to do when school wasn't in session. Patrick didn't tell Joe where he was going, only that he would meet him when school started the next day. It was Wednesday, and Tuesday Joe and Patrick had died. Damn, Joe thought, days go by a lot slower when you're dead. 

Joe hadn't really stopped to think about that much. It hadn't really sunk in to either of the boys that they were no longer living. Being down on Earth, when no one can see or hear them, it was kind of painful. They were invisible, and that was Joe’s greatest fear. Following Andy around made him feel a bit less alone, but it would never cure the acute case of loneliness lurking in his heart.

Andy arrived at the Iero’s, and was greeted by the familiar face of Frank's mom.

“Andy, sweetie! It's been awhile since I've seen you around here, what brings you?” Mrs. Iero asked. 

“Hi, Mrs. Iero. I'm just here to hang out with Frank and the other guys. It's been awhile since we've all properly hung out,” Andy replied, looking around the house for a sign of any of the other boys. 

“After everything that's happened recently, they sure do need it. Oh, sweetie, come in! It was rude of me to leave you in the cold like that! The boys are downstairs already, have fun, Andy.” 

Mrs. Iero stepped aside, allowing Andy inside the house. Joe was already inside, looking around the house. He'd remembered the place from the few times he'd been there. Most hang outs usually took place at the Way household, but the band would practice here at the Ieros. He remembered the smell of Frank’s musty, slightly-finished basement. Frank was sitting in the red arm chair that lurked in the dark corner of the basement. He was curled up into a ball, and his head was tucked into his knees. He lifted his head when he heard the stairs creaking, and Joe noticed that his red eye makeup was smudged in a way that indicated he'd been crying. Frank quickly wiped off his face and stood up to greet Andy. 

“Andy, it's been awhile man, how have you been?” Frank asked, pretending to keep his cool. 

“As fine as I can be, I guess. How have you been holding up?” Andy asked.

“If I'm honest, same. But, uh, let's not think about that right now, let's play some fuckin’ music, okay guys?” Frank suggested to the other guys who had been hanging out in the bean bag chairs on the other side of the basement. 

Frank’s statement was met with cheers from the other boys. Everyone in the room was hurting, Joe could tell, but all of them were determined to not let it show. It was a game of who could hold it together the longest, where all of them were destined to break down eventually. They were all just holding themselves together for each other, instead of talking about what was on all of their minds. 

Andy sat down at the creaky old drum set and adjusted everything to his liking. Although Frank’s instruments were not the highest-quality, they were good enough for a gaggle of boys just looking to play for fun. He started with a simple beat, a tune that was easy to follow. Mikey started playing something on his bass to accompany Andy’s beat. Frank and Ray followed up by playing seperate parts on their guitars, all while Gerard was slightly humming a tune to go along with the chaos of noises coming from their instruments. All of it was improvised, and none of it was expertly played by any means, but it was enough to evoke emotion within the boys. Andy played with the anger he felt for the world losing a man as magnificent as Joe, Mikey played out of guilt for what he'd done to Pete, and the rest of the boys played out of sorrow for their lost friends. Joe wished Patrick was there, because he was on the verge of breaking down from witnessing such a beautiful mess of pure emotion. It was horribly depressing, yet awkwardly beautiful. No juxtaposition of words could describe what that song sounded like, but it was just that: a juxtaposition. 

Gerard was the first one to break, and everyone could hear it too. His hums turned into words, which then later turned quieter and quieter until no one could hear anything coming out of Gerard’s microphone besides him muttering and sniffling. Frank quickly followed, when his melodic guitar riff trailed off into a wisp of static coming out of the amplifier. They all stopped one by one, until Andy was the only one left playing. It was an intense, powerful beat. The other boys saw the anger in Andy’s face as he played, and they could also sense it in his beat. It was fast and chaotic, and it was the only thing holding him together. He knew if he stopped he'd fall over into a slump of tears and regrets, so he didn't want to stop playing. He felt his eyes start to drip with tears, and felt his beet red face start to dampen with the liquid sadness. He finally dropped his drumsticks and buried his face in his hands as all the other boys stood around and watched, unsure of what to do. 

The only thing Joe wanted was to be able to help Andy. He wanted to hold him and dry his tears, but he couldn't. He tried to hold onto Andy, but his arms phased right through the boy. Joe started to cry just as Andy was. It was out of frustration, and it was out of fear. He wanted to help his soulmate, because he knew that was his job, but he couldn't. How am I supposed to make him befriend Patrick’s soulmate if I can't even touch him, and I can't even talk to him? Joe thought. 

“God, it's like I can feel him holding me!” Andy yelled out of frustration. 

“Who?” Gerard questioned, coming up to help Andy. 

“Who do you think? Joe! I'm liked him, but I was too much of a coward to make a move and now he's dead, he's gone and I never got to be with him!” Andy was full on sobbing at this point, words only escaping his mouth in between tears and moans of sorrow. 

Joe was taken aback by Andy’s statement. Could he feel him trying to hold him? Joe tried touching Andy again, but his hand again phased right through the boy. 

“It feels like he's trying to touch me!” Andy replied, sitting straight up and looking Joe directly in the eyes unknowingly. 

Joe’s heart fluttered when their eyes met. All he wanted to do was kiss Andy, but he couldn't. However, Joe decided to try anyway. He placed his lips on Andy’s, but he couldn't feel anything. He just closed his eyes and pretended though. All he wanted was to be able to cuddle with him and run his fingers through his beautifully messy hair, but his hands just fell right through the boy’s head. 

Andy only felt cold when he stared up into the emptiness. He felt cold on his lips, and in his hair, but it felt nice. It felt comforting, almost, in a way that he couldn't quite understand. He didn't know he was being kissed by his soulmate, but it did feel like something special was happening. 

“Andy, are you okay?” Ray asked, pulling Andy back into reality. 

“Are any of us?” Andy laughed nervously, running his fingers through his hair. 

The boys settled in their bean bag chairs, which they rearranged into a circle. Andy was sandwiched in between Ray and Frank, and Gerard and Mikey were next to each other. 

“So, you liked Joe a lot then, didn't you?” Ray asked. 

“I guess. Looking back at it now I realize more and more how much I did, and it just... “ he stopped for a moment to think of the right words “it just pains me to know that I liked this guy so much, but was too scared to ever ask him out. I don't even know if he liked guys, and I'm like this. I don't feel worthy of feeling grief, really. I didn't know him as well as you guys did.” 

“But you still knew him, and you obviously cared about him a lot,” Gerard reasoned. 

“Yeah, um, maybe I shouldn't mention it now, but are you guys going to the funeral?” Ray asked. 

“When is it?” Andy asked. 

“Joe’s is on Friday, Patrick's is on Saturday. I can email you the details when I get the rest of them,” Ray replied. 

Joe was watching his friends talk about his own funeral. It was interesting to him how they all responded to his death, but at the same time it made the situation he was in feel all too real. He still wasn't used to the idea that he was dead, and none of his friends or family would see him or hear from him ever again. 

The boys talked for awhile about the lives of Patrick and Joe. All the while, Joe was sat on the floor in the circle, silently listening to the outsider’s perspective of his and his best friend's lives. Joe felt as though he was there, alive, and hanging out with close friends. At the same time, though, there was a cloud of depression and sorrow hovering over the group of boys as they talked about their newly deceased friends. 

Pete got home from the hospital earlier than he expected to. The school nurse had been wrong, and his nose was just slightly displaced and she'd actually probably made it worse. The doctor put it back, and after a lot of screaming from Pete and a fair amount of blood, he was finally able to return home. He put his threw backpack down on his bed and then went on his computer. He had an email from Brendon. 

Hey Wentz, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. It wasn't cool. I'm thinking about going to Ryan’s party later, you wanna come with?

Pete wasn't in the partying mood, but he did want to hang out with Brendon, so he replied: 

Y’know, I got my face beat in today, so I'm not really in the partying mood. Can you come over to my place, though? 

Pete awaited a reply, which came almost instantly, shockingly, since Brendon was not usually the type to respond quickly. 

Oh, okay sure. Do you want me to bring the stuff? 

Pete rolled his eyes before responding. 

Just call it what it is, Urie, it's not like the cops are on our asses. 

Oh, you know what I'm talking about, but I'm assuming that's a yes. I'll be over in 20. C’ya Wentz. Brendon responded. 

Pete heard a knock on his door 20 minutes later, and rushed to answer it before his parents. 

“Hey, Brendon, let's go up to my room.” Pete said, rushing to get Brendon up the stairs. 

Pete then heard his mother call out, “Pete, was there someone at the door?” 

“No, mom! I think it was the tree knocking on the windows again!” Pete improvised. 

When Pete and Brendon were safely concealed in his room, Brendon brought out the stuff he'd mentioned earlier. The boys were anxious to get their fix. 

“This was going to be for the party, but someone didn't want to go.” Brendon said, while setting out the materials they needed. 

“Hey, it's not my fault Way decked me in the face in Music History,” Pete replied, digging in his desk drawer in an attempt to find his lighter. 

“Aha, here we go,” Brendon said, admiring to perfectly rolled blunt in between his fingers. 

Pete sat next to Brendon on his bed, and used his lighter to light both of their blunts. It had been awhile since Pete had gotten high, since he and Brendon had been on and off and he was the only dealer Pete knew. Brendon was known for having those sort of connections, which is why Pete’s mom had banned him from the Wentz household years ago. Pete always found work-arounds for his parent’s rules, though, and was prone to sneaking out to go to parties with his friends. 

“Man, this feels good,” Brendon said, taking a long drag and blowing the smoke out in a large cloud, “are you sure your parents won't smell it?”

“Yeah, the window is open, and my room usually smells like drugs anyway,” Pete laughed. 

Patrick had followed Brendon after school. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like he needed to, which is why he parted ways with Joe. Maybe this is God’s way of showing me Brendon actually is my soulmate, Patrick thought. He was watching the boys slowly get loosened up by the drug. 

“Pete! Your father and I are going out, we'll be home late, dinner’s downstairs!” Pete's mom yelled out. 

“Thanks mom!” Pete yelled back. 

The boys waited until they heard Pete’s parents car leave, and then they went to work. Pete went downstairs and to the fridge, where he knew his parents had a few bottles of cheap wine. He poured the wine out into a different, empty bottle, making sure both bottles were equally drained. It was a science Pete had gotten good at, with his parents strict rules. He put the bottles back in the fridge and carried the now half-filled bottle up to his room, where Brendon was taking the screen off of the window. The two boys climbed out onto the roof, blunts in their mouths and the wine bottle clutched tightly in Pete’s hand. 

They relaxed on the flat part of Pete’s roof, facing the trees behind his house. He and Brendon laid next to each other, the wine bottle resting in between the two boys. Every once in awhile, between drags, the boys would take sips of the wine. 

“Today’s been wild,” Brendon remarked, feeling slightly buzzed already. 

“I just can't believe two guys our age just died. It could have been any of us,” Pete said, staring up at the moon, which was just becoming visible in the darkening sky. 

“Yeah, like, we think we're like, invincible at this age, but we're really not,” Brendon replied, “we could die at like, any moment. None of us will ever fuckin’ know.” 

Pete took a long drag and breathed it out, watching the cloud of smoke swirl out and dissipate around him. 

“Mikey. Mikey Way. He seems like a cool guy,” Pete said, thinking about the last conversation he had with Mikey. 

“Mikey Way? As in, the guy who literally almost broke your nose? You gotta be joking, dude.” Brendon laughed. 

“No, no, really! We got to talking and he's actually pretty cool.” Pete said, making Brendon’s laughter fade away. 

“Don't tell me he's your next victim to pull into the popular crowd. That kid wouldn't survive, he's a DnD nerd,” Brendon said, “hell, the populars almost cut my head off until they found out about my connections.”

Brendon was right; Pete remembered when he and Brendon dated the first time, and that is what pulled Brendon into the world of popularity. He wasn't a fan-favorite to the populars, quite the contrary actually. Most people hated Brendon, until they found out about his seemingly endless supply of weed. Even after Pete and Brendon broke up (and then got back together, and then broke up again, and so on), the populars took a liking to him. 

“Please, Urie, you know I'm still hung up,” Pete said without thinking. 

“Who you hung up on? Who was that last chick you dated, Ashley, wasn't it? Still liking her, aren't you?” Brendon teased. 

Pete’s cheeks were a rosy shade of red at this point, and he took a long sip out of the wine bottle to try to calm his nerves. The first time he and Brendon dated, Pete was only using him for the parties and drugs he provided. However, he grew an attachment to the boy. Brendon was one of the more attractive boys at the school, and people tended to take notice of that as well. That's what kept Pete coming back, time and time again. Though, Pete always had eyes for other people, and too big of a heart, which got him into a lot of trouble when it came to relationships. 

“Huh, Wentz? Not gonna answer?” Brendon teased again. 

Brendon’s and Pete's blunts fizzled out into nothing, so they threw the remaining scraps off of the roof and finished off the wine. They then climbed back in the window and hid the wine bottle in an old shoebox that Pete had, and then shoved it in the back of his closet with the rest of his shoeboxes. 

Brendon was laying on Pete’s bed, so Pete laid down beside him. Brendon suddenly grabbed Pete's hand, “It's me, isn't it?” 

This made Pete blush, and before he could think better of it, he turned towards Brendon, cupping his head in his hands, and kissed him. 

Patrick felt something inside of him swirl around again, and this time it felt worse. He couldn't peel his eyes off of the boys, whose actions were starting to escalate quickly. When shirts started to come off, that's when Patrick decided to leave. The feeling inside kept swirling around in him, even while he was sitting outside of Pete’s bedroom door, listening to the shuffling of bodies. He didn't know what to do, but then he thought about Joe, and suddenly, he was somewhere else. 

Patrick spotted Joe sitting in the corner of the Iero’s basement. Ray, Frank, Andy, and the Way brothers were invested in a game of DnD. Joe blinked and then asked, “Patrick? How did you get here? Where were you?” 

Patrick was still beet red from thinking about what he almost witnessed, and also still had that weird feeling in his gut. He didn't really want to explain to Joe what had happened, so he answered his first question, “I'm honestly not sure how I got here. I just thought about you, and now I'm here.” 

Patrick looked over at the table of boys, who were currently battling some made-up monster in their fantasy land. 

“How have they been? They seem surprisingly calm.” 

Joe looked over at the table of boys, “they have their ups and downs. They mostly just try to distract themselves, but I can just feel the tension, really. They're all trying really hard to not have a breakdown.” 

Patrick nodded. He kind of felt similarly. 

“This has been the longest day of my life, and I'm literally dead.” Patrick joked. 

This made the dead boys laugh, thinking about the events of the day. Everything was different, for everyone, and it was going to take a lot of getting used to. For the dead boys, though, they only had one week to deal with this situation. 

“Joe, I think I found him.” Patrick confessed later, while the alive boys were settling down to sleep for the night. 

The boys all managed to dog-pile onto the small pull-out couch in the musty basement. They were all very comfortable with one another, but there was one straggler left standing beside the bed: Andy. 

“Come on Andy, come snuggle with your boys!” Frank joked, patting the small patch of bed left beside him. 

Andy remained standing for a moment, before deciding to lay down in the pile. He was in between Frank and Gerard, who were both attempting to snuggle up to him. Mikey was laying pretty much on top of Ray, who didn't really seem to mind. 

“Who did you find?” Joe asked, staring at Andy, who was looking quite uncomfortable. 

“I think I know who my soulmate is.” Patrick replied, the feeling in his gut getting even more intense when he uttered those words. 

“Are you just going to leave me in suspense or?” 

“It's Brendon!” Patrick blurted out. 

“Brendon? I thought, earlier, you said you didn't feel anything when you looked at him?” Joe asked. 

“Well, yeah, but, uh, after school I followed him and he went over to Pete’s and…” Patrick tried to explain himself, but he was too flustered to do so. 

Joe smirked deviously, “you're jealous, aren't you? They hooked up and you watched!” 

“No! I mean, uh, technically yeah, but uh, some parts of that are not correct!” Patrick replied, even more flustered than before. 

Joe just had a smug look on his face, until Patrick took a deep breath and began to explain. 

“I followed Brendon because I felt like I needed to. He went over to Pete’s and, uh, yeah, things did get intense and I got jealous, I guess. But I did not watch!” Patrick explained. 

“So, this leaves us with one question then,” Joe said. 

“How do we get Andy and Brendon to meet?” They both said at the exact same time.


	5. The Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter early because I have a lot written and want to share it!

Pete woke up a sweaty mess. Although his window was open, and it was the middle of winter in Chicago, he was extremely hot. Brendon's body was no longer against his, as it had been. Instead, Brendon was leaned over, obviously looking for his clothes. Pete looked over at his alarm clock: 2:00 am. 

“You leaving already?” He asked, his voice groggy. 

Brendon looked back at Pete as he buckled up his pants, “Well, this is what you wanted, right?” 

That felt like a kick in the stomach to Pete. He wanted something, someone to love him, and want to stay with him. Most people he'd been with just take what they want and then leave. 

“Whatever, bye,” Pete groaned, turning around and clutching one of his pillows tightly. 

Pete heard his door creak open, and then shut harshly. Suddenly Pete’s sweaty body turned ice cold. However, he was too tired to get up and close his window. That wouldn't have solved his coldness problem, anyway. 

“I'll cuddle with you,” Patrick said, although he knew Pete couldn't hear him. 

Patrick felt bad for the boy, who was now all alone in his bed. So, instead of going with the one he'd come to follow, he said with the other boy who’d been abandoned. Patrick thought Brendon was an asshole, but he was his soulmate. Though, he couldn't imagine growing old and marrying him like Joe could with Andy. Maybe it's just different. People’s relationships are different, Patrick thought as he snuggled as close to Pete as he could without phasing through him. 

Patrick couldn't sleep; he wasn't sure he was able to at all, being dead and all. He just laid awake, staying as close to Pete as he possibly could to make the boy feel loved. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to comfort the boy, but he felt it deep down within himself. It was an odd feeling that he still couldn't wrap his head around. 

Joe watched over Andy and the rest of the boys. Ray was the first to wake, and he looked at the clock on the wall. Joe looked over as well, and saw that it was 7:00 am. At this rate, the boys would be late for school if they didn't go home to get ready. 

“Shit, guys, wake up we're going to be late!” Ray yelled, trying to get the rest of the boys to wake up. 

The boys that were still asleep groaned, and Frank replied groggily, “Shut up mom, I don't wanna go to school today!” 

The rest of the boys slightly laughed at Frank’s remark, but started sitting up from the heap of bodies. Gerard and Frank had somehow slept diagonally across Andy’s body, forming an X-shape of legs across his torso. He was only able to get up after those two boys did, and then he rubbed his eyes and yawned, “you guys pinned me to the bed, I'm surprised I didn't suffocate.”

“Sorry, dude,” Frank said, putting on his shirt, “we sleep weird.” 

“No, it's fine, I'm just not used to guys being so… touchy with one another, it's usually all no homo with other groups of guys.” Andy replied, stretching his arms. 

“Well if there's one thing you need to know about our group,” Gerard started, “we are all homo.” 

This comment made the rest of the boys chuckle, including Joe, who laughed slightly, even though no one could hear him. It would seem that all of the boys were fine now, although they were all having breakdowns the day before. They were all just holding themselves together, though, Joe could still tell that for sure. 

Frank offered to let the rest of the boys borrow his clothes, but they declined, knowing Frank’s clothes wouldn't fit any of them. Andy rushed home to grab his school stuff, and he just changed his shirt and threw on a hoodie, not even bothering to change his jeans. 

Joe and Patrick met at the front of the school, but not completely intentionally. Joe had just been following Andy, who was running a bit late, and he noticed Patrick following someone on the other side of the courtyard. He called out to Patrick, but he didn't hear him. He seemed to be completely fixated on whoever it was that he was following. 

Pete woke up again, this time at 7:15 am. Shit, he thought, I'm gonna be late. 

He rushed to put on new clothes and throwing his untouched school books into his backpack. He was completely exhausted from the night before, but he knew he'd get grounded if he skipped school again, which he'd been doing frequently. He managed to run outside and speed-walk fast enough to just barely make it to the courtyard before the two-minute warning bell sounded. This made him speed up, and not watch at all where he was going. 

Andy was carrying his drumsticks and his notebooks, which he never had any room in his small book bag to store there. Unknowingly, two boys were rushing towards each other at lighting speed, trying not to be late. 

Joe and Patrick locked eyes just before the incident occured. Suddenly, they heard they heard a thunk as Andy and Pete’s foreheads collided, causing an eruption of notebooks, and Andy’s drumsticks to go flying. 

“Oh, shit, I'm sorry, here I'll help,” Pete said, scrambling to catch one of Andy’s drumsticks that was rolling away. Andy grabbed the other one, and quickly tried to grab all of his notebooks as well. Pete only grabbed the drumstick, and he quickly handed it to Andy. The boy's eyes only met as the final bell rang, causing them to look up at each other in panic. 

“Well, fuck,” Pete said, not realizing he hadn't let go of the other boy’s drumstick. The two boys were practically holding hands, which caused Andy to blush uncontrollably. 

“Uh, I'm Pete, have we met?” Pete asked Andy, staring into the boy's beautiful eyes. 

Andy shook his head, also attempting to shake away the redness from his cheeks, “No. I'm Andy.” 

Joe and Patrick cringed through the incredibly awkward exchange. The awkwardness came to a halt when the boys finally realized they were going to be even later to class than expected. 

“Oh, uh, we should get to class,” Pete remarked, removing his hand from the drumstick finally. 

“Yeah. I'll see you around then.” Andy said, turning away from Pete. 

“Yeah, hey you play drums?” Pete questioned. 

“Yeah, a little,” Andy replied, turning back around to face Pete. 

Pete smirked, “we should play together some time.”

The two boys went their separate ways, but Patrick and Joe stayed together, thinking about the events that had just happened. 

“What the fuck was that about?” Joe questioned as they wandered through the empty hallways. 

“Hell if I know, it was just awkward.” Patrick replied, happy that Joe hadn't questioned why he was following Pete and not Brendon. 

Pete couldn't stop thinking about the boy he'd run into, but he also kept thinking about last night. He and Brendon had spontaneous, drunken hookups like that frequently, but this one was different. He was usually fine with Brendon leaving, but this time it made his heart heart to hear the door creak and for him to be left alone in his bed. Pete was the kind to crave emotional satisfaction, but no person has ever fully satisfied him. 

Then, he thought about the boy. Andy. His head replayed the moment they'd crossed paths over and over. Pete’s mind dwelled on the moment their hands touched when he'd handed the boy his drumstick. And when he looked into the other boy's eyes, god, he just melted. He couldn't think of a time he'd ever felt like that about anyone. 

Andy, on the other hand, had never felt more confused in his life. Just yesterday he'd been grieving over the boy that he thought was the love of his life, no gone into the vastness of death. But, now, his mind could only focus on the infamous Pete Wentz, the school Casanova known for breaking people’s hearts, doing drugs, and partying. That was the complete opposite of Joe, the mild-mannered, laid back boy with calming blue eyes. Pete was a dark figure; he had hair blacker than the soul concealed beneath his skin. That's what most people thought of him, at least. 

Despite Pete’s reputation as a bad boy, everyone wanted to be with him. There was nobody in the school that could deny an attraction to the boy, which is why Andy tried to dismiss his encounter with him. Sure, he thought he was attractive, but so did pretty much everyone else at the school. Andy's head felt heavy, and so did his heart. He'd never felt so lost in his entire life, and he didn't know how to bring himself back down to Earth. Instead, he just patted his desk with his pencils while not paying attention to his English teacher’s monotonous voice giving the class instructions. 

Andy’s second period, Chemistry, is the class he had with his friends. Frank, Ray, Mikey, and Gerard all looked exhausted as they sat at their lab stations. Frank, again, looked like he'd been crying. Although Andy was tired, he never got much sleep anyways, making him look well-rested in comparison to the rest of the boys. 

“Do you guys want to come over to my house again tonight?” Frank asked. 

The rest of the boys groaned in exhaustion, “I feel dead already, and Joe’s funeral is tomorrow. I don't want to look more dead than the corpse,” Gerard joked, but nobody laughed and the group fell silent, “yeah, that was way too soon.” 

“Jokes can be an expression of grief, so it's okay, but yeah, way too soon,” Ray replied. 

“C’mon guys, you don't have to stay the night, but I do have something planned,” Frank said, “I think it'll help us.” 

“Unless you hired therapists for us to give our sob stories to, I'm pretty sure we can't be helped right now,” Mikey said. 

“No, it's better than that,” Frank replied, “and it works.” 

The boys eventually reluctantly agreed. Frank always made the group go through crazy adventures, which Andy wasn't quite sure of yet. But, he reasoned, nothing could hurt at this point. 

For Pete, most of the day flew by until lunch. That was gosip central for most 9f the school, and it was no shock to him that word of him and Brendon’s hook-up had already spread to most of the students. His friend Ryan and a group of other popular people approached him as he sat down at a table, his lunch tray filled with disgusting school food that most people never touched. 

“What do you want?” Pete asked, lowering his eyes as to not meet their condescending gazes. 

“Well well well, it seems you made my boyfriend skip out on my party to sleep with him, huh?” Ryan snapped, getting up into Pete's face. 

This was news to Pete. He knew about Ryan’s party, but he had no idea that Brendon and Ryan were dating, “Dude, I had no idea you were together I'm so-” 

“Can it, Wentz! You fucked my boyfriend. Jon, Spencer, get ‘em.” Ryan replied gesturing his hands towards Pete. 

Pete got out of his seat, but he was already surrounded by Jon and Spencer. They were two lanky, nerdy looking boys, so Pete didn't see them as too much of a threat. 

“You really think these guys are going to take me down,” Pete laughed, “that's actually hilarious.” 

This made Ryan’s blood boil, turning him a shade of bright red out of pure frustration, “Get him!” He yelled at the boys, who turned back to Pete. 

Jon grabbed Pete by his shirt collar, lifting him up slightly. He pinned Pete against the wall while Spencer loomed over Jon’s shoulder, attempting to look intimidating but failing. Pete just smirked, “punch me in the nose, finish what Mikey Way started.” 

Jon wound up his fist and gave Pete a clean punch across his face, smacking his lips the hardest. This made Pete taste the familiar taste of blood, but it just made him laugh even more, “that's the best you got?” 

Pete took a weird sadistic pleasure in getting beat up. It had happened so many times before that he simply didn't really care anymore. As he got thrown to the ground and kicked in the ribs, all he could think about was all the other times it had happened, and it all led back to failed relationships and stupid drama. Pete was tired of it, but also didn't care anymore. If this is what relationships got him into, he just wasn't going to get involved with people anymore. 

“Hey!” Pete heard someone call, and that's when the kicking stopped, “get off of him!” 

Pete looked up, and out of the corner of his eye saw none other than Mikey Way, attempting to help him up. However, Spencer kicked Mikey down, causing him to fall on top of Pete. 

“Don't you fucking touch my brother!” Pete heard Gerard yell. 

Pete and Mikey got caught in the middle of a huge fight that suddenly broke out. All they heard was the smacking of skin and the cracking of bones around them, which made both of them cringe. Through the tangle of bodies, Pete could make a few figures out. Frank Iero was getting his ass handed to him by Spencer Smith. Gerard Way was currently pinning Jon Walker against the wall and beating him senseless. Ray Toro was getting the shit kicked out of him by Ryan Ross. Shockingly, though, none other than Andy Hurley was beating the absolute shit out of Brendon Urie, and for some reason, this made Pete smirk. 

There were cheers, there were screams, and most of all, the lunchroom was absolute chaos. In all of his years of high school, Pete had never seen anything like it. He'd been in a fair amount of fights, but he'd never been in this position. He and Mikey were grasping onto each other for dear life without even realizing it. They exchanged glances with one another every once and awhile, when positions in the fight changed. 

Soon, the fight was over. The police had to barge into the lunchroom and drag the boys off of each other. Pete and Mikey looked at each other, and they both knew they were going to get in a shit ton of trouble for all of this. When the chaos had cleared up again, Pete noticed Andy again, who was getting interrogated by a police officer while a nurse was examining his arm, which looked extremely bruised. He just hoped the boy wouldn't be in too much trouble for all of this, knowing this was all his fault. 

“Wentz, sometimes you just gotta keep it in your pants,” Mikey remarked, looking at Pete with a bit of a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. 

In the midst of all of this, Mikey and Pete started laughing, still holding each other. Most people looked over in shock at the scene, but then Pete started having a coughing fit and toppled over. 

“Pete? Pete? You okay dude?” Mikey asked, slightly shaking the boy who was now hunched over, coughing at the ground.   
“They got my ribs pretty good,” Pete managed to groan out between coughs. 

A nurse ran over to help Pete, so Mikey stood up to look around. He turned around and saw a stern-faced Principal Winston staring straight into his soul. 

“Come with me.” He said, grabbing Mikey's arm and whisking him away. 

Joe and Patrick just stood in shock as they watched the fight break out. When Mikey noticed Pete was getting beat up, he knew he had to do something. So, he got up and tried to defend him, and in the process, pulled everyone else into it. The group of boys had never been in a fight before, let alone one with this many popular people. However, due to the circumstances, they were all willing to fight, and quite aggressive about it too. 

When Andy got mixed up into the fight, Joe became extremely concerned. He did not want to see Andy get hurt, but there was nothing he and Patrick could do to stop him. When he grabbed Brendon, who was trying to get to Pete, Patrick and Joe both looked at each other and bit their tongues nervously. 

“I don't think this is what God wanted,” Joe said, watching as Andy wound up to punch Brendon. 

Andy’s punch was enough to send Brendon to the ground, but Andy didn't stop there. He began to kick the boy, hard and furiously. He was angry, a type of anger he felt when he wrestled with grief from Joe’s death. He wasn't even sure why he was so upset; he barely knew Pete.   
Brendon grabbed Andy’s legs and dragged him down, causing him to fall onto the hard tiled floor of the cafeteria. Brendon got up fast, and started to kick Andy. 

“You like that twist of fate, huh?” He asked sarcastically as he kicked Andy in the face.   
“You fucking coward! Fight me like a man, Urie!” Andy yelled, grabbing Brendon’s ankle and trying to drag him down again. 

“I'm the coward! You're the one who threw me down first!” Brendon yelled, stepping on Andy’s hand, causing him to whimper. 

Joe winced. He did not like seeing Andy like that. He was weak, and he was being beaten quite badly. All he wanted to do was go over and stop it, but there was no way he could. He and Patrick still stared at the events occurring around them, unable to do anything. 

Eventually, Andy was able to get up, and swung a few punches at Brendon, some of which missed, but the ones that hit hit hard. Brendon grabbed ahold of Andy’s arm once, and bent it in a way that made Andy cry out in pain. In rage, he took his leg and kicked Brendon in the groin as hard as he could. This caused him to let go and crumble to the floor. This ended the quarrel, and Andy then started to feel all of the pain in his arm. Brendon was then pulled back by a police officer, and one of the school nurses took Andy to a nearby table. 

“We’ve been dead for two whole days, and we miss all this,” Joe remarked as he and Patrick followed the police officers taking Jon and Spencer to the office. 

“I think we caused all of this, dude. It's all some, like, sick chain reaction on a downward spiral that's leading our friends to their dooms. I hate it.” Patrick replied, tugging at his hair. 

“Hey, Patrick, they're going to be fine, eventually. Just, right now, they're confused, and they're sad, and they're angry. They will figure this out,” Joe replied, looking at Patrick’s panicked face. 

Patrick looked at Joe and slightly nodded his head, showing his understanding, “I can't believe we did this.” 

Joe nodded back at Patrick. He couldn't really believe it either. Their deaths were causing so much to happen in such a short period of time, and it was all hectic and honestly, quite depressing to witness. Joe didn't want Andy, or any of his friends for that matter, to be so sad about him being gone. He was still technically there with them, for now. He just couldn't see how he was important enough to cause all of the chaos, and he didn't think he was worth all of the pain his friends were going through. Patrick felt similarly. The dead boys were just utterly defeated as they trudged along to the principal’s office. It felt like they were the ones about to be persecuted. 

The office felt more like a courtroom. Principal Winston sat as his desk, his face still in the same stern look it always was. The dusty bookshelves contained books that looked like they'd never been opened, and the principal’s many degrees hung on the wall, framed with a black wood. The white walls of the office were a perfect juxtaposition to the kinds of things that were to be discussed there. The office was filled to the brim with all of the people involved in the fight.

“Take a seat, fellas. We are going to be here awhile.” Principal Winston stated, gesturing towards the many empty seats that had been set up to account for all of the boys that were involved. 

Pete sat down in the metal chair, leaning against the back of it and crossing his arms. He looked across the room and made eye contact with Ryan, who just glared at him as a response. 

“Some of you, I'd expect this kind of behavior from,” Principal Winston started, making uncomfortable eye contact with Pete and Brendon, “but others of you have me quite shocked by your recent behavior,” he gave a quick glance over at Mikey and Andy. 

He sighed and leaned forwards, putting his elbows on his desk. He took his wire-framed, circular glasses off of his head and began to rub his temples. 

“Look, boys. I get it. It's tough, losing your friends, especially at such a young age. But, this, this behavior? Do you think they'd want you acting up like this?” 

Patrick and Joe looked around at all of the boys, who seemed to be biting their tongues. The boys in Andy’s friend group looked on the verge of tears. 

“I know not all of you here knew them. But, to you boys that did, you will not be severely punished. Now, that is not to say you will not be punished at all, because you will be, but, I know why you have acted the way you have. Now, please, explain to me the situation.” 

Gerard, Mikey, Ray, Frank, and Andy let out sighs of relief, while the rest of the boys in the room looked at each other with concern. 

“Um, before we continue, can I go to the nurse?” Andy asked, clutching his arm, “it really, really hurts.”

The principal dismissed Andy, and he left the office. The halls were quiet, and all he could think about was the pain his arm was in. He thought about all of this mess his life had become in just the matter of days, which made him just want to focus on the physical pain. He could fix the physical, but the mental would take a lot of time and hard work to even make a dent in correcting it. 

After Andy closed the door, Ryan started to speak, “Mr. Winston, I'm sorry, but this situation is incredibly sensitive and I'm positive you don't want to know-” 

“I'm going to stop you right there, Mr. Ross. I am a high school principal, I have heard everything. There's nothing you fellows can tell me that I won't expect, I was once your age as well.” 

Ryan looked over at Spencer and Jon, who just shrugged their shoulders. 

“Brendon cheated on me with Pete, Mr. Winston. That's what this is about.” Ryan said, while forcing tears to come to his eyes. 

“Then why did you target Mr. Wentz, Ryan?” The principal questioned, retrieving his glasses from the desk and placing them on the bridge of his nose. 

“Because Pete made him do it!” 

“I did not!” Pete retaliated, starting to get up. 

“Boys!” Both Ryan and Pete sank back into their seats while all of the other boys in the room held their breath. 

The principal sighed again, and rubbed his temples some more before finally lifting his head and continuing. 

“Well, that explains why Mr. Ross and his friends were involved. Mr. Way, how did your group get pulled into this drama?” He asked. 

Mikey thought wisely about his words before answering, “well, after what happened with Pete and I, we kind of became, uh,” he looked over at Pete, who gave him a weak smile, “we became friends, Mr. Winston. So, when I saw him getting beat up, I had to defend him. And, that's when Spencer kicked me down, and then Gerard saw and, you know, brotherly instincts and all that, so that's how my group got stirred up in this, and I'm sorry, Mr. Winston. I should have just, let it be.” 

“Mr. Way, do not apologize for defending someone. You, and your friends, were in the right here. I do not blame you for sticking up for your friend, but violence is not the answer. However, it was an act of self defense, in this case. You and your friends get 3 nights detention after school. I will inform Mr. Hurley of this later, but for now, you boys are dismissed. 

Gerard, Ray, and Frank stood up to leave, but Mikey stayed back. 

“Mr. Winston, please take it easy on Pete,” Mikey says, “he didn't do any of the fighting, that was all us.” 

Mikey then left, along with all of his friends. As soon as they were far enough away from the office, Frank cheered, “we didn't get fucked!” 

This led to chuckles and laughter to break out amongst the boys. They were all injured quite badly, though, so they decided to go the the nurses office. Mikey had a few bruises on his knees, but that was the extent of his damage. Frank had a black eye, Ray had both of his eyes blackened and bruised, and Gerard’s knuckles were still bleeding slightly from punching Spencer so many times. 

After getting patched up, the boys headed back to their classrooms that they were supposed to be in. 

“As for the rest of you gentleman,” Principal Winston said after the other boys left, “there will be more serious consequences. Especially since all of you are not first, or even second, time offenders.”

Pete held his breath, awaiting the consequences. Although he'd not been directly involved, he knew since he was the cause, he would be getting the same, if not similar, punishments as Ryan and his gang. 

“Mr. Wentz, since you and Michael Way have seemed to reconcile, and you were the victim of this fight, you are free to go.” 

Pete raised his eyebrows, unable to fully comprehend what his Principal, a man who hated him dearly, had just said. 

“Wait… really?” He asked, genuinely shocked. 

“Yes, Mr. Wentz. Now, go to the nurse to get your lip and other injuries checked out before I change my mind. 

“Thank you, Mr. Winston. Thank you so much.” 

Pete got up and left, but not before looking through the office window and sticking his tongue out at Ryan, who scoffed at him from inside the office. Pete had the biggest grin on his face, and his swollen lip made him look kind of creepy to the passersby. He didn't mind though; he was just happy he got away with absolutely no punishment. 

Andy winced as the nurse wrapped his arm in a thick layer of gauze, “I'm calling your parents, Mr. Hurley. This is, well, very broken.” 

“Oh great,” He replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. 

Suddenly, his friends burst through the door, “we only got detention! Three nights!” Frank yelled happily. 

“And I have a broken arm! Hurray!” Andy replied sarcastically, raising his good arm with a thumbs up. 

“Oh, sh-” Frank almost cussed in front of the nurses, “shoot dude, that blows.” 

“Yeah, dude, you gonna be okay?” Gerard asked, pulling up a chair to be next to Andy, whose arm was almost completely wrapped. 

“Yeah, I get to get out of school early to go to the hospital. But, this isn't my first rodeo, I've broken a few bones before.”

“Are you going to be okay to come over tonight? I need all of you guys there.” Frank replied. 

Andy looked down at his arm and shrugged, “this hurts, and I'm not sure my mom would want me going anywhere with this,” Andy gestured towards Frank to lead forward, and he whispered into his ear, “but I always sneak out anyways.”

Frank was grinning ear to ear, and gave Andy a firm pat on the back, which caused him to receive a scolding from the stern nurse.

After a while, after the boys had been patched up with ice packs and band-aids, a familiar figure came into the nurses office. Andy could recognize that face anywhere, and he had an unmistakable smirk on his face. 

“So, you suspended?” Frank asked. 

“Nope.” He replied, smirk growing even further with those words. 

“Expelled?” Mikey asked hesitantly. 

“Nope,” He repeated, “since I was the victim, he let me off.”

The rest of the boys were left in complete shock, “Wait, let me get this straight,” Ray started, “Principal Winston, the most strict man in the universe let you get out of any punishments from a fight? He has never done that!”

“I know, that's why I'm lucky,” Pete said, sitting down in a chair. 

The nurses have him a look-over, and gave him stuff for his lips. He mentioned he got kicked in the ribs pretty hard, so the nurses felt his chest and he winced in pain.   
“Yeah, definitely some bruising there. Just take it easy on yourself for a while, and it should be okay,” one of the nurses stated. 

The boys chilled out in the nurse's office while waiting for Andy’s mom to pick him up. The topic of their planned sleepover came up, and suddenly Mikey became incredibly enthusiastic. 

“Pete, uh, you should come! If, uh, the rest of you don't mind?” Mikey asked. 

“I don't mind, you guys?” Frank replied.

The rest of the guys agreed, and it was decided that Pete would be joining the group for the night. 

“I hope you like snuggles, Monster, and Dungeons and Dragons,” Gerard joked.

“And I hope all of you like surprises,” Frank said, raising his eyebrow to pretend to be mysterious. 

Frank’s look just evoked laughter in the group of boys, which was not good for Pete’s bruised ribs. They talked until Andy’s mom finally arrived to take him to the hospital.

“Hey, Andy,” Pete said as Andy was walking out the door. 

Andy turned around, and couldn't help but blush when he saw Pete standing there, smiling at him.

“Thanks for defending me back there. I owe you one.” 

Andy turned back around and left without a word, which he began to regret as he got into his mom's car. He knew if he had said something, though, it would have been incredibly embarrassing. He just watched his friends wave him goodbye as his mom pulled away, and all he could think about was the popular boy joining his friend’s nerd sleepover.


	6. The Sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit shorter, but next weeks it pretty long and eventful. Hope you enjoy! (P.S. I have another story I just started! It's called Foal Out Boy. Check it out if you want, it's also here on AO3)

Pete nervously knocked on the door of the Iero household. He wasn't sure what to expect, but whatever misconceptions he had were completely obliterated when Mrs. Iero opened the door and revealed to household. 

It was a nice, two story home. Most of them in that neighborhood were. The contents of the house, however, were a jumbled mess. Miscellaneous objects were scattered around the house, and Mrs. Iero had a pink apron stained with food coloring and clay, possibly. 

“Oh, uh, hello! You must be Pete, come in sweetie, the boys are downstairs. Make yourself at home, hun,” she said cheerfully.  
Pete stepped inside. The house was hot, and he could hear a jumble of noises coming from downstairs. The boys’ voices were mixing together to make a cacophony of weird noises. Pete was used to loud music and corners of people smoking or snorting various drugs. He wasn't used to sleepover parties. Well, intentional ones, anyway. 

Pete headed down the creaky staircase, and his nose was immediately filled with the must of the unfinished basement. Pete wasn't used to all of this; if he'd kept a part of the house this messy, he'd be scolded and grounded. The boys were gathered around a huge table, and Gerard was standing at one end while the other boys were standing across from one another on each side of the long, birch wood table. Pete approached to try to see what they were up to. 

Gerard was the first one to notice his presence. He smiled at Pete from across the table. 

“Hey, Pete! You wanna play?” He asked. 

“Uh, this is Dungeons and Dragons, right?” He asked, receiving nods from the other boys, “I've never played.” 

The boys let out gasps of fake shock, “get out, you can't be a geek, goodbye,” Frank chuckled sarcastically. 

Pete looked around the table and noticed someone was missing, “hey, where's Andy?” 

“He's still at the hospital. His arm is very broken. He should be here later, though,” Ray said, “which means we need you to play in his place.” 

The boys tried to teach Pete how to play, but to no real avail. As much as he wanted to understand, he couldn't quite get the hang of the seemingly way over complicated game. He tried his best, though, and they managed to create his character, an elf warrior, for some reason, and progress the story a bit. 

The boys turned towards the stairs when they heard them creaking. They all watched as bright blue plaster came into view, wrapped around Andy’s arm, which was in a black sling. Andy looked at them quizzically, “what, you guys have never seen a broken arm before?” 

The boys laughed nervously. Then, Andy laid his eyes on Pete. Pete was dressed casually, which was something he never did at school. At school, he was always the pinnacle of odd fashion choices, but now he was dressed in gray sweatpants and a black tee-shirt. His hair was curly in places where the straightening he did each morning was wearing off. Andy liked the look of this, a lot, and found himself staring a bit. He didn't realize it at first, but when he did, he awkwardly shook his head and headed down the rest of the stairs. 

Andy joined the quest later, and the boys played for hours before getting tired of it. Joe and Patrick wished they were there. The party looked very fun to the boys who couldn't touch or say anything. They could only speak to each other, which wasn't had, but it also got boring after awhile. Even though they had each other, they felt incredibly alone. 

Frank checked the time on the clock. It was already 10:00 pm. 

“Are you guys ready for my surprise?” Frank asked, slightly smirking. 

The boys were all sat in bean bags, except for Pete, who was sprawled out on the couch, exhausted. He hadn't gotten much sleep lately. 

“Please let it be a puppy,” Mikey joked, crossing his fingers and closing his eyes as to make a wish. 

Frank headed up the stairs as the boys anxiously awaited whatever it would be that he would come back with. The boys made casual conversation while waiting, mostly about upcoming tests. It seemed like they were all perfectly fine, but that was about to change. 

The boys looked at the stairs when they heard them creaking. In Frank’s arms was a whole lot of objects. There were many candles, a lighter, and a plastic bag filled with various other things. He also had his family’s salt shaker in his hand. Frank came down the stairs and spread the objects out across the floor, in the middle of the circle of bean bag chairs. 

“Frank, one question,” Andy asked, “what is all this shit?” 

“You'll see in a second,” Frank said, pouring out the contents of the bag.

Ray spotted the big box and read the bold lettering, “Frank, you can't be serious.” 

The boys looked over Frank and looked at the old, dusty box. He blew the dust off of it and then opened it. He poured out the board, which fell with a clank against the cement floor. The planchette also fell out on top of the board. 

Frank started to arrange candles around the strange board. He got out a lighter and lit each one. The candles did not have any particular scent, not an identifiable one, anyway. The boys gathered around the board when Frank gestured them to do so.

“Really, Frank? A Ouija Board? Where did you get all of this stuff?” Mikey asked. 

“Shhh, my mom would kill me if she knew we were doing Satan shit down here,” Frank said, putting a finger up to Mikey’s lips. “I found the board in the storage room over there. I don't know why we of all families have one, but we do. I just bought the candles yesterday after school before you guys came over.” 

“Why are we doing this, exactly?” Pete questioned. 

“I dunno, I just thought maybe… this is gonna sound really crazy… but maybe we could talk to Joe and Patrick again?” 

“Frank, you're right, that is absolutely insane! What if we summon Satan or something!” Andy agrued. 

“Shh! Remember, my mom cannot find out! Now, we just have to take a chance here. It may not even actually work.” 

Frank placed the planchette in the middle of the board. 

“Now, who's with me?” He asked, placing his hands on the piece. 

Andy sighed, and placed one of his hands reluctantly on the planchette. Gerard and Ray exchanged a glance between each other, then shrugged and joined in. Pete and Mikey did the same. Finally, the planchette was full of the boys’ hands. They made a circular motion on the board twice, Frank asking, “spirits, are you there?” 

Joe and Patrick weren't sure what to think. 

“Do you think we could actually touch it?” Patrick asked, looking at the boy's hands on the planchette. It wasn't moving, indicating that none of the boys were going to play tricks on each other. 

“I mean, it's worth a shot. What if this is how we can communicate with Andy and tell him what he needs to do?” Joe asked. 

Joe and Patrick approached the board. They sat across from one another, Joe in between Gerard and Ray and Patrick in between Mikey and Pete. They placed their hands on the planchette. To their surprise, they could feel it. They looked at each other and smiled excitedly. 

“Damn, it feels good to touch something!” Joe exclaimed happily. 

“What do we say?” Patrick asked. 

“Well, they asked if we're here, let's answer that first.” Joe replied. 

Patrick and Joe moved the piece towards the ‘yes’. 

“Who's fucking moving it? Which one of you guys is doing that?” Ray asked, obviously extremely freaked out by the planchette seemingly moving by itself. 

“I swear I'm not. Are you guys?” Frank asked. 

Everyone promised they weren't by the time the planchette was directly over the word yes. All of the boys looked around at each other, unsure of what to say or do next. 

“Is there just one of you, or like, is there many spirits here?” Pete asked curiously. 

“How do we answer that?” Joe asked. 

“Let's just go to two, then they'll know it's the two of us,” Patrick replied. 

They landed on the number two near the bottom of the board. 

“Joe and Patrick, is that you?” Mikey asked finally. 

They headed to yes as quickly as possible. This made all of the boys go silent, and many of them turn a ghastly pale. Pete and Mikey looked at each other, extremely frightened. Andy looked around and his friends, who were all sitting in shock, unsure of what to say. 

“So, uh, what's it like being dead?” Frank questioned. 

“Frank! What if they don't want to answer that!” Ray exclaimed. 

“Well, I dunno, you guys weren't asking anything!” Frank retaliated. 

Joe and Patrick quickly tried to spell out “Don't fight” on the board. When they spelled all the letters out out loud, the boys finally got the message. 

“They don't want us to fight, guys,” Gerard said. 

“Uh, sorry?” Mikey asked. 

“Do you have any messages for us or something?” Ray asked. 

“Well, as a matter of fact, we do.” Patrick said, smirking at Joe a bit. 

They spelled out Andy’s name with the planchette. 

“The message is for me?” Andy asked, watching as his and his friends’ hands got lifted towards the yes. 

They watched as the message formed on the board. They spelled out each letter, until they realized what it was saying. 

“B-E-F-R-I… befriend?” Gerard asked. 

Their hands were lifted to the yes. 

“Who? Who do I befriend?” Andy asked.

“B-R-E… no…” Andy said, “not Brendon Urie! It's Brendon, isn't it.” 

He watched as his hand was taken to the word yes, and he sighed, “He literally broke my arm today. How am I supposed to make him my friend after we got into a fight? And why?” 

The dead boys weren't exactly sure how to answer Andy, so they just spelled out, “can't explain. God.” 

“God? He told you this?” Andy asked. 

They guided the planchette to the ‘yes’ once again. Then they spelled out, “earn wings. Heaven.” 

“So, I have to befriend Brendon in order for you to earn your wings and get to Heaven?” Andy questioned. 

When their hands were taken to ‘yes’ once again, the boys weren't sure what to ask. 

Joe decided to do something, so he spelled out Andy’s name again. Then he spelled out his own name. 

“Joe, are you trying to say something to me?” Andy questioned. 

He led the planchette to the yes. 

“I-L-O-V-E…” The boys spelled out. Tears came into Andy’s eyes as the rest of the sentence continued, “Y-O-U.” 

“I love you too, Joe,” Andy whimpered, “I- I'll do it. I'll befriend Brendon so you guys can get into Heaven. For you, Joe, and Patrick too.” 

“T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U” the board spelled out. 

Joe leaned over and kissed Andy’s lips. Andy suddenly got very cold, and his whole body tensed at the sensation. His lips were so cold they felt almost numb. 

“Fuck, Joe, did you just… kiss me? Is that why my lips feel cold?” Andy asked, while Joe was still inches away from Andy’s face.  
Joe returned to his sitting position as Patrick moved the planchette to yes. 

Pete suddenly had a deja vu kind of moment, as he remembered the night before. He thought about how he couldn't seem to get warm, although he covered himself in his blanket. He quickly dismissed the thought, though. Neither of the boys even knew him, why would one be snuggling with him late at night? 

Patrick, just to mess around a little, removed his hand from the planchette. He then went around the circle, touching each of the boys’ backs and watching their reactions. Joe laughed loudly and Ray launched himself away from the board and screamed. Frank shushed him rapidly to get the boys to quiet down. Pete felt the cold, and he knew it was the same thing he felt in bed that night. He didn't bring it up, though. He just didn't want to make things awkward. 

“Okay, which one of you little shits did that?” Ray asked, returning to the board. 

Joe spelled out P-A-T, and they knew it was Patrick. It felt nice to Joe and Patrick to be able to touch something, and to be able to talk to their friends again. Although it freaked all of them out, it seemed kind of like old times, when they would just sit around and talk for hours. Except, this time, there was an extra communication barrier. But, there's nothing a Ouija board can't fix when it comes to the dead communicating with the living. 

“So, like, when you guys get to Heaven, will you be able to talk to us still?” Frank asked. 

Joe and Patrick shrugged at each other, but went towards ‘no’. They thought since they wouldn't be on Earth anymore, they wouldn't be able to touch the planchette to be able to talk to them. They'd be wherever Heaven is, which is something neither of them even knew. 

They talked for awhile more, until Ray looked at the clock, “holy shit, guys, it's like 3:00 am, and we have school tomorrow.” 

The rest of the boys looked over at the clock, and then Andy sighed, “guess we should say goodbye then?” 

The boys guided the planchette towards ‘goodbye’, and swiped their hands over it. At that moment, Patrick and Joe could no longer feel the planchette, and were back to phasing completely through the board. 

“Being a ghost is hard,” Patrick said defeated, “you can't even feel things anymore. It sucks.” 

“Hey, we won't be like this much longer,” Joe said, “Andy’s going to make friends with Brendon and everything's going to be good again, okay?”

The boys nodded at one another. They watched their friends stripped down and climb into the pull-out bed. Pete didn't hesitate, unlike Andy when he was there the night before. They all piled on top of each other, forming a heap of testosterone on the tiny, springy pull-out bed. In a matter of moments, Gerard and Mikey were softly snoring. It took Andy the longest to fall asleep that night. All he could think about was Joe. Andy now knew that Joe loved him too, and it hurt that he could never be with him. But, at the same time, it was just a stupid board. Anyone could have been moving the planchette, even if they said they weren't. He shut his eyes in defeat. He decided he'd have to face his feelings tomorrow anyways, at the funeral. He tried to block the sadness that overwhelmed him out when he thought about Joe’s lifeless corpse resting in a casket. That's a problem for tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow.


	7. Joe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter so much. I hope you guys do too.

The day of the funeral. On this day, none of the boys could even pretend to be okay. They trudged along through school, not paying attention to anyone or anything. All any of them could think about was Joe and Patrick, and how they would finally have to face the reality of the situation. 

Andy didn't see Brendon at school that day. In fact, he couldn't find any of the other boys involved in the fight. Even if everything the board had told him was just a sick trick from the other guys, Andy was determined to do what it had told him. He assumed they were just suspended, but he hoped it wasn't for too long. He didn't know how he'd be able to find Brendon outside of class. 

Pete agreed to go with the funeral with the other boys. After school, he dressed nicely. He put on his black dress pants along with his jet-black dress shirt. He styled his hair in the usual manner, straightened down into a fringe. He looked into the bathroom mirror. He looked down at his arms, his limbs, and looked closely at his veins. He was in tune with his body completely, and could feel the beating of his heart. He looked at himself again, still feeling his heart in his chest. This is what makes me alive, he thought, I… I'm alive. But he's not. They're both not. 

He sighed, and pulled himself back into reality. He grabbed his eyeliner and applied a thin layer around both of his eyes, attempting to make it neater than he usually does. He knew it was a formal event, so he didn't overdo it. He looked himself in the eyes once again, and tried to grasp the concept of death, knowing he'd be facing it head on soon. This is going to be extremely depressing, he thought, but you have to be there. For the guys. For Mikey. For Andy. 

Andy prepared for the funeral as well. He pulled on his black dress pants and a white button-up shirt. He tied a black tie around his neck in a timely, neat fashion. It was a very difficult task to do one-handed, though, but it was still accomplished. He slicked his hair back, making the frizzy hairs settle neatly on his head. As he did this, he too, looked at himself in the mirror. 

“I'm alive,” he said, putting his not-broken hand on the sink and leaning in closer to the mirror, “but, this isn't forever.” 

He slipped on his black dress shoes. He pulled on a jacket, knowing he'd have to walk. He grabbed the flowers he'd bought off of the kitchen table, and headed out the door. 

Joe was scared. He didn't know how he'd react to seeing his own body, nor did he know what would happen when he did. He didn't want to realize it was real. He wanted to live in a fantasy that he was still alive and well, but he knew in his no-longer beating heart that it wasn't. As well, he didn't want to see his friends sad. He didn't want to see Andy so weak again. Joe watched him prepare for the funeral, and saw the hurt in his eyes at he stared at the bundle of beautiful, dark red roses. He followed Andy through the cold winter landscape. 

Andy walked in silence, not even letting thoughts infiltrate his mind. He completely shut himself off, and only focused on the physical. He could feel his fingers grow numb as he trudged through the snow. He could feel every step he took in the heavy snow, and enjoyed hearing it crunch underneath his shoes. He heard cars pass by him, whizzing by and crunching the ice on the roads. He stared at his shoes, until he heard the sound of a car pulling up beside him. 

“Hey, Andy. You need a ride?” Pete asked, his passenger side window rolled down so he could speak to him. 

“Um, sure,” Andy replied, approaching the vehicle. 

The car looked nice on the outside. It looked brand new, and it's black exterior was without dents or scratches. It gave the appearance that it was nice, but the inside was the complete opposite. When Andy sat inside the car and closes the door, the first thing he noticed was the stench. The whole interior wreaked of rotten eggs and spoiled milk. The seat covers were completely stained, with questionable substances scattered throughout. There was trash thrown about everywhere, and Andy could only image the horrors that this car had seen. 

“This is yours?” Andy questioned as they pulled away. 

“Uh, yeah. Got it for my sixteenth birthday. Sorry about the mess, I've been meaning to clean it up,” Pete replied, paying more attention to the road than their conversation. 

Most of the ride was conducted in silence. The funeral home wasn't that far by car, so Andy was glad that Pete had picked him up. He didn't know how much longer he would've lasted in the cold. 

When the boys arrived, they both started unintentionally holding their breaths. Andy spotted the Way brother’s shared car, and Frank’s was parked close by. Ray’s was on the other side of the parking lot, parked away from all of the other cars, as he usually does. Andy was the only person in the friend group to not have his own car. Despite him working on the weekends, it was not enough to be able to afford a car of his own. He didn't mind, though. Walking wasn't that bad, and it allowed him to clear his mind, most days. 

Andy and Pete walked into the funeral home. It was dimly lit, and looked like an old, Victorian house. Pete looked around at the somber faces across scattered throughout the room until his eyes were gravitated towards the familiar faces of the Way brothers, Frank, and Ray. He instinctively grabbed Andy’s broken hand to lead him over to where they were, but this caused Andy to blush profusely and his breathing to stopped entirely. 

They finally made their way over to the group, and joined their little circle. The other boys were dressed nicely as well, all in black for the mourning occasion. They all made small talk in whispers, and were mostly on the verge of tears. They all made glances at the casket, which was a nice oak wood laced with a fluffy looking linen. There were flowers all around it and to the side of it as well. Andy clutched the bouquet of roses in his hands tightly, and Pete heard the rustle and looked down at them. 

“Do you want to place them up there?” Pete asked, gesturing over to the floral arrangements next to the casket. 

“Maybe later I- I don't want to see him. I mean, not right now, I just… I'm not ready.” Andy replied, almost on the brink of tears already. 

Pete grabbed Andy’s hand again, giving it a tight squeeze, “hey, I understand. We’ll do it in a bit, okay?” 

Andy looked into Pete’s dark brown eyes and his heart melted. He nodded, not even completely sure what he had just said. Something about the boy made Andy forget everything else, but at the same time it felt wrong. He was supposed to be with Joe, but Joe’s dead. He let go of Pete’s hand and almost crumbled to the floor, but he didn't let himself collapse. He instead just stared at his shoes. 

Patrick looked around at the familiar faces. He knew tomorrow he'd be in Joe’s position, anxious and teary-eyed at his own funeral. He wished it didn't have to be this way. He wished there was no funeral at all, because he was still alive. But, it wasn't true. They were just lies he told himself to keep his sanity while he was trapped in Earth, although his body was in a morgue somewhere getting pumped with chemicals to prevent its decay temporarily.

Joe looked at the faces of his family. He watched his own mother and father sob over the casket. He watched a slideshow of his life play on a screen on the wall. He watched distant relatives and friends he hadn't talked to since Elementary school cry over him. He saw how he was loved, and even more so, how much he was missed. It made him very upset to see the people he loved this way. All he wanted to do was cry, be he couldn't. Physically, yes, but his mind wouldn't let him. It blocked him from expressing his true emotions, and instead, he bottled it all inside and stared blankly at the people he loved sobbing. 

The service was about to start. The boys knew it was one of their last chances to look in the casket, because after this it would be closed, and go to the cemetery to be buried. Andy looked at Pete, and interlocked their fingers. 

“Take me up there?” He croaked out, his eyes burning with tears. 

Pete nodded and led Andy by the hand up to the flower arrangements. He placed his roses onto a bundle of other flowers, making sure to make them look nice and neat. The other boys in the group followed closely behind. They all crowded around the casket and looked inside. 

This was the first time Joe himself could work up the nerve to look at himself. He and Patrick looked into the casket with their friends. Joe gasped when he saw his own body, laying cold and still. His eyes were closed; no one could see the beautiful blue they had once been. His curly hair was kept nicely, but still kept natural. His body had been dressed in a suit: a classic black-and-white tuxedo. He had a black bow-tie to go along with it. Beside his casket were a few of his prized possession, on display for everyone to see. His first guitar and his favorite guitar were both there, shining in all their glory. Joe looked over at them, longing to play his favorite instrument once more. He kneeled beside his own casket and had a breakdown. He knew nobody even knew, but it felt like the whole world was watching him explode. His bottled up tears finally came erupting out of his eyes. Patrick patted him on the back, not saying anything. He knew there was nothing he could say or do that would change the way Joe felt, so he just knelt beside the boy and tried to comfort him the best he could. 

Andy couldn't contain himself when he saw Joe. He, too, felt like his heart had just broken into a million little pieces. His whole world felt like it was shattering around him, like a broken window. He squeezed Pete’s hand tightly, trying to hold back tears. Andy suddenly felt the hair covering his ear being swept away, and heard Pete’s voice whisper softly, “It's okay to cry, Andy.” 

Those words and the confusion his heart felt resulted in the explosion of emotion, causing Andy to break free of Pete’s grasp and bolt out of the funeral home. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he couldn't stay. His heart couldn't take it. He didn't know what to feel or how to feel it. He was staring at the dead body of someone that loved him, that he was falling in love with, but his mind could only think about the boy standing next to him, holding his hand and taking his breath away. Andy ran, the snow crunching underneath his shoes and his tie flying around his face. It was so cold, as he had left his jacket there, but he couldn't stop running. He ran down the street and then turned the corner. He ran until he found the little park and sat down on a vacant bench. He ran to it, sat down, and bawled his eyes out. 

Andy felt the cold again. He knew it wasn't the winter biting at him, though, it was the cold. The cold he'd felt on his lips. The cold that he knew was Joe. 

“What do you want?” Andy yelled, “you're dead! Leave me alone! I can't have you, Joe, I can't have anyone!” 

Andy sobbed and sobbed. He couldn't stop trembling from the cold that kept nipping at him. He couldn't even think about the people that were probably watching him. He didn't care. All he could think about was what could have been. If there is a God, why the fuck would he do this to me? 

Joe was taken aback by Andy’s screaming. All he wanted to do was help, but he couldn't even do that right. He didn't want to bother Andy anymore, so he got up, looked back at the boy, still crying, and walked back to the funeral home. 

“Patrick… I can't do this. We can't do this,” Joe said as he found Patrick, who was still standing at Joe’s casket. 

Patrick turned to look at Joe. Joe’s eyes were swollen with tears that were threatening to come out. Patrick kept his calm composure, though, “what do you mean?” 

“Andy doesn't want me around, anymore, Patrick! He doesn't want to feel my presence. Our mission… we're going to fail! We only have until Tuesday and it's Friday and Brendon’s probably suspended for longer than that and-” 

“Joe, calm down-”

“I can't calm down! Patrick, don't you realize this? We're dead! Dead! We can't come back, we're stuck as ghosts if we fail, they probably don't even believe in the Ouija board!” 

“Joe listen to me!” Patrick yelled. 

Joe’s eyes welled with tears. They flowed down his blood red cheeks. He was frustrated, heartbroken, and confused. Patrick grabbed Joe’s shoulder. He forced Joe to look him in the eyes. 

“Listen. We are dead. You're right, but can we change that? No, exactly. We've done everything we can, Joe, whether they follow it is their choice now. I hope they do, I hope we get to Heaven, yes, but if they don't? We can't think about that. We can't. We just have to believe in them. Andy was your soulmate. He loves you, and he always will love you, but you're gone now, and he has to process that. He doesn't mean it, Joe, he's just grieving. Do you understand?” Joe asked, cupping Joe’s face with one of his hands. 

Joe, tears still flowing, simply nodded his head, taking in all of Patrick’s words. He hugged his friend, and sobbed into his shoulder. Patrick simply rubbed Joe’s back and felt him shaking in his arms. 

Andy sat on the bench, shivering and sobbing. His tears were not flowing as much, as the cold was freezing them to his face. He was whimpering and his thoughts wouldn't stop, no matter how much he tried to will them out of his mind. He curled up into a ball, not only to keep warm, but so he could rock himself. Before he could start rocking, though, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and through his tears he could see his friends crowded around him. 

Gerard sat down on the bench next to him. Andy unbunched himself, letting his legs hit the cold, snowy ground. Frank held Andy’s jacket. 

“Here, take this, it's fuckin’ cold out here man,” He said, handing the jacket over to Andy. 

Andy quickly put on the jacket, “thanks Frank.” 

Frank nodded as a response. Gerard started, “the service is over. As soon as it stopped we went looking for you, but it took us awhile. We're sorry.” 

Andy looked at Gerard, who’s makeup was completely run off of his face. His eyes were swollen from crying, and a bright puffy pink. 

“It's okay, I understand,” Andy replied. 

Andy rubbed his cast with his free hand. It was somewhat comforting, yet restrictive. He enjoyed the texture of the cast; it was better to feel that than to deal with his actual feelings. 

“Oh, Andy,” Ray sighed, “what are we going to do?” 

Andy watched Ray’s breath form in front of him with those words, and the condensed fog float off into oblivion. 

“I don't know, Ray. I don't think any of us know,” Andy said, pulling at his hair with his free hand. 

“They're heading up to the cemetery now. Do you wanna go?” Mikey asked. 

“I don't think I can. I think I'll just go home, I'm sorry guys,” Andy replied, looking down at the ground. 

“No, don't be sorry, it's okay, we understand,” Gerard said, trying to be supportive. 

“You're not walking home, not in this cold. I'll take you,” Pete said, extending his hand out to Andy. 

Andy looked at the boy’s bright eyes. Through all of the darkness, he found light in those chocolate browns. He grabbed his hand, and was helped up. Andy waved goodbye to the other guys, and then walked to Pete’s car with his hand buried deep in his jacket pockets. He looked over at Pete, who wasn't wearing anything to protect him from the harsh cold. When Pete looked at Andy, and their eyes met, something clicked inside both of them. They both weren't quite sure what it was, but it sure as hell felt important.


	8. One Night Stand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Badly written smut warning. You have been warned.

When Pete pulled into the driveway, he stared at the quaint house. It was small, for sure; a lot smaller than he was used to. It was just Andy and his mom, after all, so they couldn't afford much. The small house was painted a tranquil blue color; the kind of blue that the sky makes right before a big storm is due to blow through. The shudders were a bright white, contrasting the blue nicely, and the roofing was a pale gray. All in all, it looked over all cozy, which was something Pete wasn't used to in his house. His house was big, but it was lonely. His parents were rarely there, so he filled the void with parties and friends. 

“I'll see you later then,” Andy said, opening the door to Pete’s car. 

Pete watched him, but something in his body started to ache as he felt like something cold was pushing him towards the boy. He knew he had to say something. He knew he had to stay. 

“Wait-” Pete called out, making Andy turn around to face him and blink, “can I stay for a little? Just a little, I just… don't wanna be alone right now.” 

Andy was a bit shocked by Pete’s words. Why would someone like him want to hang out with someone like me? He thought. 

“Uh, yeah sure, come on,” Andy said. 

They walked to the front door, and Andy fetched the keys out of his pocket. He fumbled with them for a moment, trying to remember which was the house key and which was the mailbox key. He finally deciphered the two, and unlocked the door. He pushed inside, the door creaking loudly as he did. He held the door for Pete, who walked inside. He saw a light switch on the wall beside him, so he flipped it on, illuminating the once-dark house. 

Pete looked around. The living room was covered with white carpet, unstained and perfect. The walls were a light gray to match. There was a small TV set in the corner of the room. The bookshelf next to the small couch was filled to the brim with books, magazines, and other reading materials. Just beyond that was a small dining room, with the kitchen attached. The open floor-plan felt very inviting to Pete, unlike his families more close-off house. 

“We can chill in my room if you want,” Andy suggested, looking at Pete who was still looking around, “I know, it's not much.”

“No, I like it. I love it, actually. It's simple. It's beautiful, just enough to get by with a family your size, y’know? My family, it's big house, flashy cars. But we don't need it. It gets… lonely. This is cozy,” Pete said. 

That was the first time anyone had complimented his home, and Andy was a bit shocked. He never brought any of his over to his place, because he knew he'd be judged for having so little in comparison to all of them. Or even worse, he feared he'd be pitied by them. The last thing Andy wanted was a vacant pity-party. That sounded like actual hell to him. 

Andy led Pete through the kitchen and they came up to a hallway with three doors. The one at the very end was Andy’s room. Andy opened the door, and all Pete saw was order. It was a hectic order, yes, but it was organization. There was a spot for his vinyls and CDs on a little stand in one corner, a record player resting on top of it. His bed wasn't made, but at least it had no items on it, unlike Pete’s bed that was full of miscellaneous objects. The floor had piles of clothes, but they were all the same type, pants in one, tee-shirts in another. There was a desk with an old computer on it, sitting there dusty. And in the other corner was Andy’s pride and joy: his drum set. 

Pete noticed the worn down drum kit, “how long have you had that?” 

Andy looked at it and smiled, remembering the story behind it, “got it the summer before 8th grade. I mowed lawns all summer to get that thing. Damn, it's old, but it still sounds amazing.” 

“Wow, so like, five years?” Pete asked, astonished. 

Andy nodded happily. Although it was old and slightly worn, he'd taken quite good care of it. Five years isn't that old for a drum set, but Andy played it almost every day, making it wear down faster than those who are just casual players. 

Andy sat down on his bed, “so, what do you want to do?” 

“Mind if I pick out some music?” Pete asked, going over to the record player. 

“Be my guest, you can put on anything you like,” Andy said, flopping down on his bed and staring up at the white ceiling. 

He soon heard the sounds of one of his favorite vinyls. The heavy music streamed into his ears, calming his still fast-moving mind. Music was one of the only things that kept him truly calm, and at peace. It was one of his main relaxers, and helped him cope with stressful situations. Andy felt Pete lay down next to him. They were both staring at the ceiling, the light from the window slowly fading as the sun sank lower in the sky. After a few songs played, passing the time nicely, Pete finally spoke. 

“I don't think you should bottle things up, Andy. You have to talk about it at some point.” 

Andy knew exactly what he was talking about. He chewed on his lip for a moment, trying to find the right words to respond with, “I know, Pete, I know. It's just… so hard… I'm so confused, so conflicted, and my mind keeps moving so fast. I can't keep up with my own thoughts, Pete, and it scares me.” 

Pete shifted onto his side, and reached his arm around Andy. Andy shifted as well, his body now pressing up against Pete’s. The boys were face-to-face, and there was no escape. 

“I know how you feel, Andy, I do. Death it's… it's so hard. There's no easy thing about it and it sucks so bad. But it happens to all of us. Unfortunately for Joe, and Patrick too, it happened so fast. The universe took him away from you way too soon, and that's so unfair. It is, I can't justify that. There's no justification for someone as young as him dying in such a non-negotiable way. He and Patrick were young, they were healthy, but they still died. And that's the thing about death. It could take any of us, at any time. And they're gone, and there's nothing we can do about that fact. But we can do something. We can live how they'd want us to. Do you think they'd want us to be sad? No, I don't think so. Joe would want you to move on, Andy. That doesn't mean you’ll get over him, you never truly get over the death of someone you love, but it does mean you learn to love again. You trust, and you live. We don't know how much time we have left, but let's assume we had like, a whole life ahead of us. Would you want to spend it grieving, or would you want to be living? I think the second statement’s a lot better. God- I ramble so fucking much- but do you kind of see what I'm trying to say?”

Andy looked at Pete’s eyes and blinked a few times, trying to fully let his words sink in. He nodded his head after a long moment of just staring into the boy’s calming eyes. 

“Joe wouldn't want me to be sad forever. He would want me to live, for however long I have left,” Andy said, summarizing Pete’s long monologue. 

Pete pressed his forehead against Andy’s. Their bodies were pressed close together, and Andy could feel Pete’s heart beating in his chest. He knew this meant Pete could feel his, but that made him nervous, as his heart was beating extremely fast from the anxiety of being so close to someone. He examined Pete’s face closely. His lips were perfect and Andy couldn't help but stare and think about what it would be like to kiss them. He looked at his eyes, god, his eyes. His heart started beating even faster than before. 

Pete stared back at Andy. He'd been in this kind of situation, many times, but he'd never, ever, thought it could feel this good. It felt different, somehow, but he couldn't quite figure it out. He stared into Andy’s eyes, but he could tell that Andy wasn't looking back at him. He looked down where the boy’s gaze was, and realized he was staring at his lips. 

“You wanna try something?” Pete whispered, pulling Andy closer. 

Andy’s body tingled at the touch. Pete grabbed his waist and pulled his body waist and intertwined their legs. Andy had never been so close to someone else. He was breathing heavily, and he couldn't control himself. All he wanted was Pete. He wanted to press his lips against the boy’s, and sink his teeth into his beautiful neck. He could only think about what it would be like to throw his arms around Pete and embrace him tightly. He started to feel friction in his dress pants. He blushed and tried to calm himself down, but he couldn't. He was too close to Pete to not be excited. 

Pete felt it. He knew what it was immediately. He smirked, knowing he'd turned the boy on. His body took over, no longer thinking logically. He wrapped his hand around Andy’s neck, pulling his hair slightly. He leaned down, and started to chew on the boy’s neck. This caused Andy to moan uncontrollably. He'd never been kissed, let alone this kind of attention. It was all happening so fast, but he couldn't think. He didn't want to. He just wanted to let it happen. 

Pete sucked on Andy’s neck in different places before reaching his other hand down. He messed with the belt of Andy’s pants, trying to get it off. He finally succeeded in his endeavor, feeling pleased with himself. He pulled off the belt and threw it on the ground beside them. Pete stopped working on Andy’s neck, and looked him in the eyes. 

“Do you want it?” Pete asked. 

Andy nodded his head immediately, Pete’s beautiful eyes making him blush even more than he already was. Pete reached into Andy’s pants. Andy could feel Pete’s cold hand wrap around him. He moaned at the touch. He couldn't think of a better sensation than what he felt with Pete. It was better than the sweetest melody, it was more exhilarating than the most beautiful tune he could think of. He sank into the feeling, trying to suppress the ugly noises his mouth wanted to make. 

“You can moan, I don't mind,” Pete whispered. 

This caused Andy to let out a cacophony of noises. He couldn't help himself. This felt better than anything he'd ever experienced. “Pete, fuck, oh my god,” he moaned. Andy couldn't help himself anymore, and bit Pete’s neck. This caused Pete to moan, which was music to Andy’s ears. It was one of the sweetest noises he'd ever heard. He bit into Pete’s neck, creating hickies as he did so. He enjoyed the feeling of moaning against Pete’s neck while sucking on his skin. 

Andy had been holding on to Pete with his arm, pressing them close together, but he needed something else to do with his hand. He let go of Pete’s shirt, which had been bundled in his hand, and reached into Pete’s pants. He heard Pete’s moan again, causing him to let go of his skin. Andy moaned against Pete’s neck, nearing his climax. He started to work on Pete; he didn't want to be unfair and finish before him. He tried to hold off, but it was too late. Andy came, covering Pete’s hand in his white liquid. Pete took his hand out of Andy’s pants and shoved his hand in his mouth, licking off every drop. 

Andy was still working on Pete, despite becoming extremely fatigued after finishing. He was determined to pleasure the boy as much as he'd pleasured him. Pete, after removing his hand from his mouth, gripped Andy’s ass. He shoved their bodies together while Andy’s hand was still in Pete’s pants. Soon, Pete finished as well. Andy extracted his hand from Pete’s pants and looked at it, admiring his accomplishment. He, too, shoved his hand in his mouth and licked off the salty, white substance. 

The boys held each other for the longest time, too nervous to do anything else. Pete looked over at the window, noticing it was now dark outside. 

“C-can I stay the ni-” Pete started to ask. 

“Please?” Andy begged. 

Pete planted a kiss on Andy’s forehead and turned him around, spooning him. Pete loved being the big spoon. He admired his handy work on Andy’s neck. He wondered how his own neck looked, remembering how attached he'd been to it. His waist was pressed firmly against Andy’s ass, and all he wanted was more. He quickly shook the thought out of his head, that's always where I fuck up. I can't do that anymore. Take it slow, take it slow, he cautioned himself.

Joe and Patrick watched the whole thing. Both of them had no idea how to feel. The feeling that Patrick felt inside when he saw how Mikey had looked at Pete was amplified ten times more. He felt almost angry. He still didn't know why, but it felt like betrayal. 

For Joe, it was betrayal. He felt like Andy was cheating on him. It didn't feel right, in his gut, to see those two together, on the verge of having actual sex. They barely knew each other. But, overwhelmingly, Joe’s head was swarmed with a single thought, replaying over and over again in his mind, that's supposed to be me. 

The record had stopped playing long ago. The boys fell asleep, tangled in a mess of each other’s limbs. The room was far too hot for both of the boys, who had never gotten fully undressed. The boys woke up a few hours later, when the front door was opened. 

“Andy, I brought home dinner!” She called out. 

Andy woke up, and turned to Pete, “she doesn't know you're here, and might freak out if she finds out. Stay here?” 

Pete’s groggy voice whispered, “yeah that's okay,” and he turned over and fell back asleep right as Andy got up. 

He thought it would be suspicious if he was still wearing his funeral clothes (and his pants and underwear were stained on the inside now, thanks to Pete) so he quickly changed into sweatpants and a gray tee-shirt.

Andy sat down at the kitchen table and smiled at his mother, “hey mom, how was your day?” 

His mom, tired, replied, “It was just long, 12 hour shifts at the hospital are tough,” she said, piling dinner into her mouth. 

Andy ate slowly, scared his mother would find out about their guest. It wasn't that big of a deal, but he knew he should've at least tried to call her and tell her, although she wouldn't have been able to answer at work. 

“So,” she said, looking Andy straight in the eyes, “who's car is that in the driveway?”

Andy’s breathing stopped. He'd completely forgotten Pete had parked in the driveway. That was the dead giveaway, and Andy knew he couldn't get out of this one. 

“Sorry for not telling you, but my friend is here,” Andy said, putting a bite of food into his mouth quickly to try to avoid being questioned further. 

“Friend? You never bring friends home, which one?” She asked. 

“Pete, he's a new friend,” Andy said, knowing he'd never mentioned Pete to her. 

“Can I meet this Pete?” She asked. 

“He fell asleep,” Andy replied. 

His mother glanced at the clock, “It's only 7:30, why is he sleeping?” 

“He's just tired. It's been a long day. He took me to the funeral, and drove me home too.”

“Oh,” his mom replied, “Patrick's is tomorrow at noon, right? Is he taking you there too?” 

Andy nodded, even though it was a lie. He hadn't made plans with Pete to do that, but I guess they'd have to now. 

“Well, tell this elusive Pete that he is welcome to make himself at home,” Andy’s mom said, taking her now empty plate and placing it into the kitchen sink. 

And stayed at the dinner table, staring down at his plate of food he had no appetite to eat. He didn't want to be wasteful, though, so he ate as much as he could before finally deciding enough was enough. He wrapped up the leftovers and decided to take them to Pete, for when he woke up. He turned off the lights to the kitchen and walked through the dark house, the only light that was on was that of his mother’s room. 

Andy sat the plate of food on his computer desk, and then crept back over to the bed. He laid down, deciding it was his turn to be the big spoon. He snuggled up to Pete’s back, feeling his heavy breathing against him. It was very calming, and it put Andy straight to sleep almost as soon as he became comfortable.


	9. Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm uploading two chapters today! Hope you enjoy! (see the notes of the next chapter to find out why)

Pete woke up when the sun hit his eyes. He felt another body in his bed behind him, and was confused. He sat up and saw a shirtless Andy laying next to him, only in his black boxers. Pete blushed at the sight. He then looked at the alarm clock sitting on Andy’s bedside table: 10am. He'd slept for almost sixteen hours. Damn, he thought, that's a new record. 

Pete laid back down, still not wanting to get up. He started to cuddle Andy, who was still fast asleep. Early morning cuddles were something Pete had never had before; all of his past hookups ended when the other party left in the middle of the night, most times with no warning. Pete wasn't even sure if it could be considered a hookup. After all, they had only messed around a little. They didn't even kiss, but Pete thought he'd like to make it special for Andy. He had a feeling the boy had never been kissed before. 

Andy woke up and immediately looked at the clock, which read 10:06. He blinked before noticing Pete’s arms were wrapped around him tightly. He smiled, and was happy with the warmth that Pete was providing for him. Pete’s hand was hanging near his waist, so Andy shifted so he could grab Pete’s hand. He laced their fingers together, and it made Andy’s heart flutter in his chest. Pete made him feel the opposite of what Joe’s ghost made him feel. While Joe made his body feel so cold it goes numb, Pete makes Andy’s body combust and burn brightly. He enjoyed the feeling; it wasn't lonely, like the feeling of the ghost. 

Andy heard a knock at his door, and heard his mother say, “breakfast is ready, I made enough for both you.” 

Andy finally sat up and stretched his working arm. The broken one ached, as he forgot to take his pain medicine before bed last night. Pete got up as well, yawning a lot. Both of the boys were still tired, despite getting a lot more sleep than usual. They knew it was going to be another emotionally exhausting day, but they had each other now. Somehow, Andy just knew that Pete would help him get through it.

Pete didn't have any other clothes besides the ones he was already in, so Andy gave him a band tee-shirt and some gym shorts to wear to breakfast. After getting dressed, Pete looked at Andy, who was changing into clothes as well. He watched Andy’s back muscles flex as he lifted the shirt over his head and onto his body, and was completely mesmerized by the action. He walked over to Andy, and embraced him from behind. When Andy turned around, his face was bright red. 

“Let’s go eat, I'm starved,” Pete said, stroking a strand of hair out of Andy’s face. 

Andy nodded, and Pete planted a kiss on his cheek before they headed for the door of the room. 

The boys walked into the kitchen and were immediately greeted by the smell of pancakes. Andy’s stomach grumbled violently, his body craving the food he saw laid out on the kitchen counters. His mother was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and her plate of food. She took a long sip out of her mug, and placed it down on the table when she saw Pete. She smiled brightly at the boys, who were collecting food on their plates. They sat next to each other, opposite Andy’s mom. 

“Why, hello Pete, it's nice to meet you,” Andy’s mom said when the boys sat down at the table. 

“Hello, Ms. Hurley,” Pete said, smiling back at her. 

“So,” she said, “you boys have fun last night?” 

Andy’s face threatened to blush, but he suppressed it as best as he could. He glanced over at Pete, who was still smiling awkwardly. Both of the boys were trying to avoid the seemingly normal question. Andy’s mom raised her eyebrow at the boys after a long span of silence, “not too much fun, I hope, but by the looks of it, you two took advantage of my absence.” 

Andy’s heart stopped beating in his chest. She knew. He didn't know how she knew, but she knew. He looked frantically at Pete, who had stopped smiling and was now just looking down at his plate, picking at his food with his fork. He caught a glimpse of Pete’s neck, and then he realized how she had figured it out. Pete's neck was covered in hickies from the night before. Andy instinctively clapped his hand over his neck, knowing his neck was covered in the marks as well. 

“I already know, Andy. You can't hide it from me,” she said, and then sighed dramatically, “god, you're a teenager and I never had the talk with you. I failed, didn't I? I only hope Pete knows what a condom is.” 

Andy knew his mom was just trying to embarrass him now. His cheeks grew red from being teased; his face had the tendency to do that. 

“Mom! Please…” Andy begged, looking over at Pete, who was on the verge of giggling. 

“Pete seems like a good guy, Andy, I hope you gave him a great time,” she teased more.

“Mom!” He begged even more as Pete started to let his giggles out. 

“Your son was amazing Ms. Hurley,” Pete giggled, making Andy blush an even brighter shade of red. 

“Pete not you too!” Andy pleaded. 

Andy’s mom and Pete burst out laughing, while Andy just started to shoved food in his mouth. He didn't want to be poked fun at anymore; he hated being teased, but it was all in good fun, so he didn't mind as much. 

They finished breakfast, and Andy’s mom had to prepare for work. The boys decided to go to Andy’s room to start to prepare for Patrick’s funeral. Pete didn't have any other clothes there so he, again, borrowed some of Andy’s. The somewhat matched, both wearing black dress shirts with black dress pants. Pete wore the same shoes as yesterday, though. He bunched his clothes up in a ball and put them on Andy’s bed so he wouldn't forget to take them when he left. 

Pete and Andy arrived at the funeral home, a different one this time. It was about a 20 minute drive, and the boys listened to music and talked the whole time. Pete and Andy were holding hands as he drove, which wasn't the safest thing, but they didn't want to be parted in any physical way. Andy occasionally looked over to see Pete in full concentration. He loved to look at the boy and observe his mannerisms. He found them to be extremely adorable, like the way Pete’s tongue slightly peaked out of his mouth when he was focused. 

This funeral home was a lot less dark than the one used for Joe’s. It was brighter, and more roomy. It was more lively as well, with his relatives hustling around and talking loudly. It seemed more like a social event than a funeral, which was very odd to the boys. Andy had brought flowers for him as well, and wasn't as nervous to place them as he was at Joe’s funeral. He and Pete walked over, arranged the flowers nicely, and walked away, no problem. They then spotted their friends all in a group in the corner of the room and approached them.

“Hey guys,” Pete said, greeting the others. 

“Hey, Pete, Mikey wants to talk to you later,” Gerard said, looking kind of worried. 

“Okay, uh, where is he?” Pete asked, looking around for the younger boy. 

“He's outside. He needed some fresh air, he's still really torn up.” Gerard said, looking at his shoes. 

“I'll go talk to him,” Pete said, turning to Andy, “I'll be back.”

He gave Andy’s hand a little squeeze before going out the door. Andy watched him go, his heart stinging a little when he watched the boy go out the door. Andy didn't question Gerard, because he looked like he didn't want to talk about it. For some reason, something didn't feel quite right with Andy, but he tried to ignore it. 

Joe and Patrick approached the front of the room, where the casket was. Patrick didn't want to look; he'd seen what it had done to Joe emotionally, and he didn't want to feel that way. At the same time, though, his curiosity always got the best of him. So, after a while of staying a safe distance away from it, Patrick finally peeked into the box which contained his corpse. 

The first thing he noticed was his outfit. He wasn't dressed in anything fancy, like Joe had been. He was wearing his favorite outfit; one of his favorite hats along with his favorite shirts and a nice pair of pants. Patrick smiled at the clothing choice. His parents knew him so well. In his arms was a stuffed animal that he had since he was a child, and around his casket was adorned with vinyl records. 

“This is one amazing casket,” Patrick said, examining everything in the casket. 

“Man, my family went traditional, your parents just knew,” Joe commented. 

Pete walked outside, the cold nipping at his nose and fingers as soon as he stepped out of the doorway. Mikey was sitting alone on a nearby bench, a gray beanie covering his hair. Pete still recognized him, though, and approached the bench. 

Inside, the service began. Andy and the other boys sat in one row of chairs. The whole room was packed with antsy relatives, many of them crying or on the verge of it. The funeral home manager began his long speech about the life of Patrick, although everyone already knew the vague details. With each passing moment, Andy grew more and more worried about Pete. What's taking him so long, He thought, he's going to miss the whole service. 

Pete sat down next to Mikey, him not even noticing at first. Mikey looked at the clouds in the sky and tapped his foot on the ground. He looked nervous, Pete could tell, and he was gripping the edge of the bench as if his life depended on it. It looked like his hand would be full of splinters from the old, wooden bench if he kept digging his fingernails into the woods like he was. Pete bit his lip, unsure of what to say. Finally, he started to speak. 

Andy tapped his foot nervously. He listened partially, while also filling his head with worries. He didn't know what Pete could be talking to Mikey about; the two barely knew each other, as far as he knew. What would a freshmen be talking to a senior about anyway, math homework? Andy grabbed his hair and gave it a tug, before realizing people around him might see him and judge. He let go of his hair and stopped tapping his foot as well, just for good measure. He whispered to Gerard, who was sitting beside him, “if you don't mind me asking, what are they talking about?” 

“Hey, Mikey,” Pete spoke, his words echoing slightly in the cold, barren landscape. 

Mikey slightly jumped when he heard Pete’s voice suddenly. He grabbed his chest and exclaimed, “fuck, man, that scared me!” 

Pete frowned, “Oh, I'm sorry,” 

Mikey laughed nervously, “No, it's okay Pete, really.” 

There was an awkward pause. The two boys just stared at each other in anticipation. Pete was waiting for Mikey’s next words, or, mostly, for him to tell him what he wanted to talk to him about. Mikey was waiting for something, but he wasn't quite sure what. The right moment, maybe? 

Pete stared down at Mikey’s lips, waiting for them to form a word or anything really. He didn't think of it as an invitation of any sort, or any kind of sign. He was just patiently awaiting Mikey to start his next sentence, so they could start a conversation about whatever important topic he wished to discuss. Pete knew it had to be important, since he was missing his friend’s funeral just to talk to him. 

Fuck, he's looking at my lips, Mikey thought. He looked at Pete’s, his heart fluttering in his chest when he did so. He looked even further down to examine his outfit, but got stuck at his neck. Beyond the collar of his shirt, Mikey could see a hickey. Many hickies, actually. A fire started to burn in Mikey’s chest. He knew Pete and Andy had spent the night together, he just knew. Mikey’s fingers dug deeper into the wood of the bench, but now not out of nervousness, but out of anger, no, jealousy. 

As soon as Gerard told him what Mikey was talking to Pete about, he got up and left as quickly- and quietly- as humanly possible. He burst out of the doors of the funeral home and looked around, finally resting his eyes on the bench that Pete and Mikey were sitting on. His heart dropped. Mikey’s arms were flung around Pete, his hands digging into the boy’s hair. Pete’s eyes were closed, and he seemed to be enjoying the kiss. Andy’s heart immediately broke. Pete opened his eyes, spotted Andy, and pushed Mikey off of him.   
“Andy, Andy, it's not what it looks like I swear!” Pete rushed to explain, standing up and going towards Andy. 

Andy shoved Pete away as soon as he got close enough, “I should have never gotten involved with you, Pete Wentz,” he spit, “goodbye.” 

Andy turned and ran away. He wanted to cry as soon as he had seen the two together, but he held his tears back just long enough to finally release them when he was running. He knew he shouldn't have fallen so quickly. He knew it was all just from the grief he felt for Joe, but he couldn't help it. Pete’s seductive charms were no match for Andy’s lonely heart. And now, his lonely heart was cold and dead. Yesterday it was on fire, but now his soul was freezing. 

As soon as Mikey heard those funeral home doors open, he flung himself on Pete, knowing it was Andy who would see. Sure enough, he was right, and Andy had seen everything. Mikey knew his crush on Pete would be rejected, because he was just a small, freshman nerd, and Pete was a popular senior. However, Mikey was a very jealous person, so if he couldn't have Pete, he didn't want anyone else to have him. 

Pete, he didn't mean to sink into the kiss. But Mikey’s lips tasted similar to Andy’s skin, so he couldn't help but want a taste. As soon as he realized what he was doing, though, he opened his eyes and pushed Mikey off. He wiped his mouth off with his hand and rushed towards Andy to explain. He didn't mean any of it, and had no feelings for Mikey whatsoever. 

Andy finally made it home. He slammed his bedroom door shut and locked it. When he looked at his bed, he realized Pete had forgotten his clothes. He threw the bundle of clothing off of the bed and crawled underneath the blankets. He laid there for hours, soon unable to cry. He had no more tears left, it felt like, and he was extremely dehydrated. He had no motivation to get up, so instead just whimpered and picked at the cast on his arm. He wanted to rip it off when he saw Pete’s scrawly signature on it. He wanted to scream when he heard his name. He wanted to tear his own head apart so he wouldn't be able to think anymore. Nothing was killing Andy faster than his own head. He laid underneath the covers and moped for hours, unable to get the image of Pete’s lips on Mikey’s. Just as life was starting to look up, something ruined it of course. That's how his life had always been, and it was clear that pattern was continuing. 

After Andy ran away, Pete turned back to Mikey, who was still sitting on the bench. 

“What the fuck was that for, huh?” Pete asked, getting up into Mikey’s face. 

Mikey leaned in to kiss Pete again, but he backed up quickly. “You know you fucking want it. You kissed back, I felt it. You can't deny it, Pete, you want me too, you want me more than him!” 

Pete slapped Mikey across the face. Mikey held his face for a moment, but then he began to laugh, “you're just trying to deny your feelings.” 

“You taste like him, just a little. But nowhere near as good. You're bitter as fuck. He tastes like you, only way sweeter,” Pete said, turning away and storming back into the funeral home. 

Pete wanted to find Gerard. He wanted to beat his ass so he wouldn't get in trouble for beating up a freshman. He wanted to express his anger somehow. He balled his fists, but then spotted the casket at the front of the room. The service was over, and Patrick’s body was about to be loaded up and taken to the cemetery. For some reason, Pete felt drawn to the casket. He'd never even met Patrick, but he felt like a force was pushing him towards the corpse-box. 

He looked inside, and for some reason his heart ached when he saw the boy. He had a hat upon his head, and his arms were crossed across his chest. Pete saw something in the boy. A heart, a soul that had been ripped away from its body. He saw so much potential, now about to be buried underneath the ground and lost forever. There was something so beautifully somber about the dead boy. Pete’s heart ached, wishing he had met the boy before his passing. He felt the sudden urge to cry. He felt as though this boy would have been important to him, had they had met sooner. First, he lost Andy, and now it felt as though he'd lost someone he'd never even met. 

When Patrick saw the way Pete looked down at him, at his corpse really, something clicked in his brain. It was as if Pete’s brain and his were synced for a split moment in time. He just felt it in his heart, and the realization came to form a thought in his brain soon after. Pete… Pete is my soulmate… he thought. 

Pete drove home in silence, not even bothering to turn the radio on. He didn't want to distract himself. He knew he fucked up, and there was no way he could fix it this time. He was right about what he'd thought during the fight, I should've given up on love, he thought. 

“Damn it!” Pete yelled to no one, slamming his hand on the edge of the steering wheel.   
He was angry. Angry at himself. He'd messed up yet again, yet another great accomplishment of the great Pete Wentz. All he ever did was fuck up his life, or so he thought. He never was one to think highly of himself or his actions, because he knew it was bad. He just didn't know how to fix it. He didn't believe he could. 

When he got home, he laid down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. His whole life had flipped upside-down in these last few days. He didn't know how to process it all. Pete, he was never one to cry. But, thinking about how he'd hurt Andy, a few tears slipped down his cheeks. He covered his face with his hands. 

“Why the fuck is it like this?” Pete screamed at his ceiling, “why do I fuck everything up? Why can't I just love with no problems, damn it!” 

Pete began to sob. He couldn't help it. His mind kept replaying Andy’s hurt face after he saw what he'd done. His mind kept echoing Andy’s haunting words. Crying hurt his still-bruised ribs, but he couldn't stop. He hurt someone he cared about deeply. 

“I was starting to love him, damn it!” Pete yelled, slamming his fist into the wall beside him. 

He grabbed his pillow and squeezed it, not wanting to damage anything else. He had the tendency to be violent with his emotions. It was something he'd never been able to control, especially with his sadness and anger. 

Andy and Pete were both staring at their ceilings that night. Tears were flowing from their eyes as they thought about one another. They hadn't even kissed, yet their connection, their bond was so strong. It felt like their souls were connected in some strange way. But the events of that day were pulling them apart. 

“Joe,” Patrick said, as Joe watched Andy staring at his ceiling. Joe turned around to look at the boy, “Pete… Pete is my soulmate, not Brendon. And- and I think I know what God actually wants us to do.” 

Joe blinked in confusion, but allowed Patrick to continue his thought. 

“God, he doesn't want them to be friends. He… he wants them together.” 

Joe opened his mouth to testify, “but they're our soulmates!” 

“I know, I know, but, we're dead. We can't be with them. So, they need each other now, Joe. They need to love each other.” 

“How are we going to get them to make up?”

“I-I don't know, Joe,” Patrick sighed, rubbing his temples, “I don't know.”


	10. Reconciliation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Self Harm

Andy woke up, and felt like the room was spinning. He had a raging headache, and felt someone grabbing onto him. He shifted in his bed to look behind and saw Joe cuddling him. The boy was just peeking his eyes open, and he yawned, “Hey babe, you alright?” 

Andy laid back down and relaxed. He let Joe’s warmth overwhelm him. He focused on the feeling and felt all of his worries melt away, including the headache. Joe’s body could fix anything for him. 

“Yeah hun, I'm okay, I just had a bad dream,” Andy said. 

Joe held onto Andy even tighter after that. He kissed the back of Andy’s neck, making him get goosebumps. He shivered at the touch; he loved to be kissed on the neck. 

The boys laid there for the longest time, Andy soaking in the feeling of Joe’s presence. But then, he noticed something strange. He looked at his left hand, the one that was broken, and it wasn't in its cast. In fact, it felt completely fine. Andy was confused, and looked back at Joe. 

Joe wasn't there anymore. Instead, it was Pete, looking back at him confused. 

“You okay, Andy?” Pete asked, reaching his hand out and caressing Andy’s cheek. 

Andy pushed Pete’s hand off of him. He sat up in the bed and held his head, which was now aching violently again. It was getting worse, and the sharp pain ate away at his skull. He wanted to scream from the pain, but no sound would come out of his mouth. Pete sat up and held Andy. Andy saw Pete’s lips moving, but all he could hear was a violent ringing in his ears. 

Andy bolted straight up in his bed. He immediately grabbed his left arm, which was now wrapped back in its blue cast. He came back to reality, laying in his tear-stained bed and remembering what had happened. He looked over at his clock, which read 3:34 am. He placed his head in his hands, his head aching like it had been in the dream, but not nearly as bad. He was still extremely tired, but didn't want to be plagued by nightmares. So, instead, he got up and headed for the bathroom. 

Andy looked into the mirror, and saw how much of a wreck he was. His hair was sticking up everywhere, and was a lot more of a mess than it usually was. His part wasn't even in the same spot in his hair. His eyes were red and puffy, and so was much of the rest of his face. He, however, didn't care about his appearance. He knew he'd look bad. He leaned down into the sink, and splashed his face with some water. He looked back into the mirror after doing this, seeing his wet face. He smiled and said, “I look so fucking ridiculous.” 

Andy sat down on the floor of the bathroom, feeling the cold tiles against his bare feet. It felt nice, as it helped his headache to be colder. He fully laid down on the bathroom floor, disregarding how disgusting that actually was. He just stared up at the ceiling, his arms crossed across his chest. 

“I actually thought he could love me. I actually thought someone like me had a chance with someone like him,” Andy said, reaching towards the ceiling with his right arm. He flopped it dramatically across his chest, “I'm a fucking idiot.” 

Joe was concerned with Andy’s behavior. He'd never seen the boy act like that. He wasn't sure what to do, or how to tell Andy that he needed to talk to Pete. So, he just watched as the boy laid on the floor of the tiny bathroom, staring directly into the light overhead. 

Patrick was with Pete. He didn't move much during the night, but he didn't sleep at all. Patrick barely saw him blink. Tears dripped from his eyes as he clutched the pillow close to his chest. He focused so hard on the ceiling that it disappeared around him, leaving him surrounded by a void of darkness. He was alone, so he thought. Patrick wished Pete could at least feel his presence, but he knew he couldn't. He knew he needed to get him to make amends with Andy, but he had no idea how. The only way they'd figured out how to communicate before was with the Ouija board, but that was now somewhere buried deep within the depths of the Iero household. 

Joe tried everything he could think of to try to talk to Andy. He touched him, but Andy gave no reaction. He was mourning too much to give notice to what he knew was Joe. He tried to grab objects, but he couldn't; his hands phased right through objects. He grew increasingly frustrated as he watched Andy slip deeper and deeper into whatever sort of void his mind was creating for him, and he could do nothing but sit and watch. 

Andy eventually stood up and looked in the mirror again. He just stared at himself for a long time. Then, he started rustling through the pill cabinet. Fuck, Joe thought. 

Andy pulled out a bottle of pills. Joe couldn't read the label, but he knew it was bad. He tried touching Andy all over to give him a sign, but Andy wasn't responding to Joe’s touch. Joe looked into the mirror, and saw Andy looking at the pills longingly, but the mirror gave him an idea that he hadn't tried before. Joe leaned in, and gave a long, hot breath onto the mirror. Sure enough, it fogged up. Joe wasn't sure how it did that, seeing as he was dead, but he did it more and more. Andy couldn't ignore that. After creating a large patch of fog on the mirror, Joe dragged his finger through it, creating his message. 

“Stop,” Andy read aloud. He looked at the pills, and then back at the mirror. He sighed loudly. 

“Joe, there's nothing left for me, here. You're gone, he's an asshole. You’ll find another way into Heaven,” He stated plainly. 

Joe created another message, this time a bit longer than the last. Andy read it aloud again. 

“Forgive Pete. Only way. Joe, I can't do that. He kissed someone else after… after doing stuff with me. I'm sure you saw that. I'm not changing my mind, Joe,” Andy said.   
Joe chewed on his lip. Andy looked over at the bathtub, and started running a warm bath. He rustled around in the kitchen sink’s drawer and and found his razor. Joe knew he needed to do something, fast. Andy’s mom was gone, working the night shift. He didn't want her to come home to a dead son. 

“Patrick oh my god, we have to get Pete over to Andy right now!” Joe yelled when he teleported to Patrick. 

Pete was laying on his bed, on the verge of sleep. He was extremely tired, but was forcing himself into exhaustion. It was a form of self torture that he used on himself often, especially after fucking up relationships. 

“What's wrong?” Patrick asked immediately, concerned for Andy’s safety. 

Joe immediately thought of a horrifying image of finding Andy dead in the bathtub. He shook the thought out of his head. 

“There's no time to explain. We have to get him there. Now!” Joe yelled. 

“How?” Patrick asked. 

Joe started punching Pete in the shoulder, but of course, his fist phased right through the boy. He frantically tried shaking the boy, but he couldn't even grip him. Joe was crying out of frustration at this point, when Patrick got an idea. 

“Can we possess people?” He asked Patrick, who just shrugged his shoulders. 

“Try. Then take him to the bathroom if you can control his movements.” Joe replied. 

Pete’s whole body was shaking. Patrick crept over to the boy, who was still staring at the ceiling. His lips were parted slightly. Patrick stared into his open mouth, and that's when it happened. Joe saw a flash of white light, and then Patrick was gone. Pete shot upright in his bed.

What the fuck is going on? He thought, I… I can't control myself.

Patrick was in control. He could see Joe, who was walking towards the bathroom. He could also hear Pete’s thoughts. It was mostly just repeated cuss words, as he wasn't in control of his own body. Patrick made him stand up, and they walked to the bathroom. 

Joe fogged up the bathroom mirror as he'd done with Andy. He wrote a simple message, one that he knew would scare Pete enough to go to Andy’s house immediately. 

Andy dying. Go now. It read. 

With another flash of light, Patrick exited Pete’s body. Pete felt faint, but he read the message in front of him. 

“J-Joe? Patrick? Did you… did you just?” Pete stuttered. 

He read the message again. He was finally able to process what it meant, and his eyes became wide. He ran down stairs and out the door in seconds flat, not bothering to change. There was no time. He needed to get to Andy before it was too late, and he didn't care about anything else. 

Andy waited until the bathtub was full. He got into the hot water, feeling his clothes start to stick to him. They clung to his body tightly, making him uncomfortable. He stared at the blade in his hand. He knew what to do and how to do it. He didn't want this anymore. Everyone he loved was gone, and his friend Mikey had betrayed him. His mind replayed the moment Pete and Mikey kissed more and more, forcing Andy to tears once again. Andy cracked open the bottle of pills. 

Pete drove quickly. He didn't care about anyone or anything else, he needed Andy. Luckily, since it was nearing 4:00 am on a Sunday, there were few cars on the road, which made it easier for Pete to get away with speeding. Pete could only think about what was happening to Andy. He didn't even think much about being possessed; all he cared about was Andy. When he finally reached Andy’s house, he slammed the car door and ran up the driveway quickly. He tried the door handle, but it was locked, so he frantically slammed on the door. 

Andy heard the slamming on his front door, but there was no turning back for him. He'd already made cuts up his right arm, spilling his blood into the bath water. It dripped onto the bathroom floor too. Joe and Patrick tried everything. They even tried to possess him, but it wouldn't work. They couldn't stop him. 

Pete eventually found the spare key hidden under the doormat. He ran into the house and slammed the door. He called out for Andy, getting more and more frustrated when there was no reply. He searched every room, until there was only one left to check. The bathroom. 

Pete opened the door to the bathroom. His eyes widened out of horror when he saw the scene. Andy was laying in the bathtub, holding his arm. Blood was spilling still, dripping from the fresh wounds. Pete noticed the pills as well. He ran over to Andy. 

“Andy? Andy! Oh my god, what have I done!” He sobbed, gripping onto the edge of the bathtub. 

Andy stared at his arm and then looked at Pete through his teary eyes. He threw his arms around Pete and started sobbing violently. Pete wrapped his arms around Andy and held him as tightly as he could as the boy continued to sob. Soon, Pete’s clothes were also covered in blood. 

“We need to get you to the hospital, Andy, I'm calling 911,” Pete said, standing up. 

Andy grabbed his wrist, “Pete no, I'll be…”

“Andy you're not fine, I'm calling,” Pete said turning to go find the family’s phone.

While Pete was on the phone, Patrick and Joe tried to soak in what had just happened. It was horribly selfish, but they both knew what it meant for them. It meant they still had a chance. Andy and Pete could still make amends, and then they could go to Heaven. They weren't sure how it worked still, though. Their relationship was going to be fine; wasn't that enough for God to let them into Heaven? 

Pete came into the room. Andy was still in the tub, staring blankly at the arm in which he'd cut. 

“I'm so stupid, Pete,” He said, “my mom would have found me. I'm all she has and I… I would've been gone…” 

Pete crouched down next to the tub. He pressed his forehead against Andy's. 

“It's my fault, Andy. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, I'm sorry about Mikey. I'm sorry I fucked up your life,” Pete said, wrapping his arms around the boy. 

Andy pulled his head back a bit, staring Pete directly in his brown eyes, “Pete. You did not fuck my life up. I… this was a big overreaction on my part. If anything I fucked up yours. I pulled you into this mess with the guys and now you've had to go to funerals and deal with me-” 

“I guess we both made mistakes, but Andy, this one's on me,” Pete said, pulling Andy closer to him, “I love you,” 

Andy stunned, stared into Pete’s eyes. He looked down at the boy’s lips, which were trembling. He then replied, “I love you too,” and tenderly pressed his lips to Pete’s. 

Patrick and Joe felt something inside themselves as the boy’s lips touched. It felt like their souls were on fire, and it physically burned. It only lasted for a few moments, though, because they were soon pulled back into the white landscape they found themselves in at the beginning of this ordeal. The boys were back in Heaven at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uploaded two chapters today because (as I'm sure you can tell) next week's chapter is the last one! I hope you enjoyed the story and thank you so much for reading it so far. Hope you stick around for next week's finale!


	11. Thanks For The Memories

“You did it, boys!” was the first thing Patrick and Joe heard when they were back in Heaven. 

God was sitting on a golden throne. The gates of Heaven were just behind him, taunting the boys that had worked so hard to get there, to that very moment. They were beautiful, golden, and had yellow light streaming from the inside, concealing the wonders which were held inside. 

“Why didn't you tell us we had to get them, like, together?” Patrick immediately asked. 

“Most people wouldn't want to hook their soulmates up. When people’s soulmates die, their soul gets lost. So, they have to meet another person who’s soulmate has also passed, and kiss to seal the deal. It's just easier to have the ex-soulmates work together on this one,” God explained. 

“But you're literally God, why can't you just, I dunno, plan for them to get together?” Patrick quizzed him, putting his hand on his hip. 

“Free-will. Can't change that. Well, I could, but that's so much work. There's what, 7-8 billion people. I couldn't possibly plan every detail of their lives!” God laughed. 

Joe was confused, “but you could though. You're God.” 

“But that's no fun. Human drama is interesting, it's like a soap opera but real,” God said, leaning back in his golden throne. 

Joe, fed up with God’s answers, quickly changed the subject. 

“So are you going to let us over Heaven’s Gate now?” He asked, looking at the bright lights just beyond the beautiful golden gate. 

“Ah, yes, that. Well, since you boys are so young, I've decided to offer you an alternative. Most younger people choose this, but some do choose to go over. It's whatever you want, really,” God said. 

“Okay, what is it?” Patrick asked. 

God snapped his fingers, and a huge book appeared out of nowhere and landed effortlessly into his hands. He flipped the pages for awhile, Joe and Patrick getting more and more impatient as the moments passed by. 

“Aha,” God exclaimed, pointing at the book, “Universe 235. Joe, Patrick, Andy, and Pete are in a famous band. Your friends, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Ray Toro, and Frank Iero are also in a band together, that is very popular as well. You are all slightly different ages there, and don't know each other until later in life.”

“What does this mean for us?” Joe asked. 

“Boys, be patient, I'm getting there. Now, I will put you into the bodies of this universe. Your souls will be placed into these bodies. You will have your memories and the memories of your bodies in that universe. I think you boys will like it, seeing as you loved music in this life as well,” God explained. 

“So, what you're saying is, we get another shot? Like, at life?” Patrick asked. 

“Exactly. You’ll start again, at the age you are now. Wherever you are in that universe you will blend with that body. It's hard to explain, but your memories will mix with those of your new body. It will kind of feel like your old life was a dream, but you’ll know it wasn't. But there's one huge rule: you cannot talk about this to anyone else. When you die in that universe, it's over. You will go to that universe’s Heaven, controlled by a different God. So, boys, what’ll it be?” 

Patrick and Joe exchanged glances. It did sound appealing. The thought of them and their soulmates getting to live a life together. Being in a band together, which was their lifelong dream. It was an offer they couldn't pass up, and they both knew it. 

“We’ll do it,” Both boys said at the same time, looking at each other and smiling as they did so. 

“Excellent! I'll send you boys down immediately. It was a pleasure working with you both,” God replied happily, slamming the book and snapping his fingers again, making the book disappear. 

“Wait,” Joe said, curiosity getting the best of him, “what happens to Andy and Pete? In the life we just lived, what happens to them now?” 

God smiled, then gestured towards Joe and Patrick to approach him. The boys cautiously approached the golden throne in front of them. God leaned down, and touched one finger on each hand to each of the boys’ foreheads. At the same time, both boys saw the same images. A hospital room, with Pete kneeled by Andy’s side. Another flash of white and then the two boys were in cap-and-gown, kissing on their graduation day from high school. Another flash of light revealed a beautiful scene. Pete embraced Andy as they were both dressed in tuxedos, surrounded by flowers and their friends, Gerard, Ray, and Frank. It was their wedding day, and it was beautiful. The image in their minds was a concert. Pete and Gerard were screaming into microphones while Ray and Frank played guitars, Mikey played bass, and Andy was playing his heart out on the drums. Fans were screaming their names; it was the only audio the boys had during the montage. In the next flash, Pete was holding a small toddler in his arms, Andy looking down at the child with the most love in his eyes either of them had ever seen. The next picture was Pete and Andy with two children, a boy and a girl, taking a family portrait. They were all dressed nicely, and most of all, they were all incredibly happy. Suddenly, Patrick and Joe were pulled out of the montage. God was smiling at them. 

“I think they turn out fine, boys. They'll be okay there, don't worry about them,” God said. 

Suddenly, Patrick and Joe’s vision went blank. All they could see was darkness; it felt as if they had been sucked into a black hole. It was darker than the darkest shade of black imaginable. Then, suddenly, they saw all of the colors imaginable flash around them in an instant. Memories of the new lives they were about to enter flashed into their heads. The boys were different ages now. They still lived in Chicago, but they didn't know each other yet, nor did they know Andy. Joe knew Pete though, they had been working on some music together and thinking of starting a band. 

A few months passed. Patrick was settling into his new life nicely. His old life felt like an old memory, but he knew it was real. He knew his soulmate was out there somewhere, and he knew exactly who he was this time. He just needed to figure out how to meet him. He also wanted to find Joe. He wondered if Joe was with Andy yet, and how their lives were. 

Joe dreamed of Andy almost every night. He longed to meet the boy, his hair long and dreamy and his eyes brighter than ever. In this life, he got to have the boy. He got to be the one to marry him, as it was supposed to be in his last life. When Pete and him were talking of starting a band, Pete had briefly mentioned Andy, and this of course made Joe’s heart flutter in his chest. He was getting closer to having his soulmate. 

Joe frequented a local bookstore. He liked to stand upon the stacks of dusty books and bookshelves that were rarely touched. He went there with his friends a lot, and they just talked for hours about music and different genres of bands. He loved those types of discussions. Music was his passion, and he knew he got to pursue it in this life. He was anxious to meet Patrick and Andy and start the band right away, because he knew they'd have the times of their lives. 

Patrick walked down the streets of Chicago. He was on his was to a friend’s house who’d asked him to come over to help him study French. His shoes clomped along the sidewalk as the Chicago breeze blew through his hair. It was summer, and it was a warm, sunny day. The sun beat down on Patrick, who was wearing a black tee-shirt and jeans; a bad choice for a sunny day. 

On his way to his friend’s house, he passed by a bookstore. For some reason, it made him stop directly in his tracks. He looked in the front window, seeing nothing but bookshelves and some people chatting among them. Something in his mind drew him closer and closer to the storefront, until his feet carried him inside. When Patrick stepped through the door, he instantly felt better. The air conditioned bookstore cooled him off from the summer sun that even the cold of the Chicago wind couldn't chill. He overheard a conversation about a band he knew. 

“They're post-hardcore, dude, there's no question about it, dude, have you ever listened to one of their songs? It's obvious!” He heard one voice argue. 

“They're definitely not. They're more softcore than anything. How could you view them as a hardcore band at all?” A familiar voice retorted. 

Patrick peeked his head around a bookshelf. Standing in the aisle was a boy he'd never seen before standing next to a familiar brown-haired boy. His hair curled around his face which warmed up the room, just as Patrick had remembered. He waited until he caught the name of the band before joining in. 

“Actually,” Patrick said, getting in the midst of the two boys, who turned around when Patrick began to speak, “I believe they're a post softcore band.” 

The unfamiliar boy looked unsettled with Patrick’s reply, “excuse me? Is that even a thing? Even the notion on that genre sounds ridiculous!”

“Actually,” Joe smirked at Patrick and swung his arm around the boy, “I think he's right! What's your name, dude?” 

Patrick looked at Joe and smirked, “I'm Patrick. You?” 

“Joe. Y’know, my friend Pete Wentz and I were thinking about starting a softcore band ourselves. Do you play any instruments?” 

“I play drums,” Patrick replied. 

“Call me,” Joe said, pulling a pen out of his pocket and writing it on Patrick’s hand. 

That Saturday, the boys met up at Pete’s house. Joe and Patrick talked on the phone all week, excited. Patrick especially, because he knew he was about to meet his soulmate. Saturday couldn't come soon enough for the boys. They couldn't wait. 

Patrick nervously inched closer and closer to the small apartment’s door. He took a deep breath and held it as he knocked on the oak in front of him. He continued to hold his breath until the door creaked open. The first thing Patrick saw was a pair of marvelous, brown eyes. He knew this was the beginning of everything. The beginning of the rest of their lives. Pete smiled when he saw the younger boy. His hair was covering one of his eyes, but he swept it out of his face to get a good look at him. His beautiful blues contrasted Pete’s features nicely. He liked that about the boy, and finally invited him inside. That's when Patrick let out a sigh of relief. 

A whole year passed. Time flew by when Patrick was with Pete. Joe was happy for them, but he was still missing his soulmate, and their band was still missing a drummer. After the audition, the boys discovered Patrick’s beautiful voice that Joe didn't even know about from their previous life. Pete brought that out in him; he brought out Patrick’s true potential. The boys were about to record their first official album.

“Who's gonna be the fuckin’ drummer? We start recording in two days!” Pete sighed, flopping down on the couch in the boys’ shared apartment. 

“Don't you know that Andy guy? Text him,” Patrick suggested, trying to help Joe find his soulmate. 

“He lives up in Milwaukee, and he's probably busy with his other bands, but why the hell not? It's worth a shot,” Pete said, finally caving in and grabbing his phone. 

Joe blushed. This had to be it, there was no other time he could come into the band. He could feel it. He was going to meet the love of his life very soon, and this time, Pete couldn't have him. 

The boys were in the recording studio. They were anxiously waiting for someone to arrive. They weren't sure if Andy was coming at this point; he was over two hours late and wasn't responding to calls or texts. Joe sat, hunched over his guitar, trying not to be too disappointed, when he heard someone walking through the door. He perked his head up, and saw the most beautiful man he'd ever seen in his life. Andy Hurley. 

“I'm so sorry I'm late, guys,” Andy apologized, “the traffic was madness and my phone’s dead.” 

Pete ran over to greet him with a hug and introduce him to Patrick. Andy looked over Pete’s shoulder and saw Joe sitting there. Joe was held in place with anxiety, but he smiled and waved at the boy. 

“H-have we met before?” Andy stuttered. 

“No, I don't believe so,” Joe replied. 

God, he has no idea, Joe thought to himself. 

Their first album wasn't a smash hit, but it was enough to give them a push for a second album. From Under The Cork Tree was the boys’ hit they needed to boost them into success, which is exactly what God said would happen. They upgraded from messy, tiny vans to tour buses, and from recording in their friends’ unprofessional studios to real music industry ones. Small hotel rooms became big ones, and sometimes Patrick and Joe would stay awake late at night, laying next to their lovers, thinking about what they are doing in their home universe. Yes, they know how their lives end up, but they boys daydream about the details God didn't show them. They thought about their families in their old universe, and their friends, and their lives. Then, they realize that this is how it was meant to be. These were the lives they wanted to live in their home universe, but were torn away too soon to accomplish. 

The hiatus came. Pete and Patrick took a break from their relationship, which is what was causing conflicts in the band. Andy and Joe stayed together, trying to support their friends. Joe couldn't tell Andy, or anyone for that matter, this, but he knew it would work out in the end. Soulmates, no matter how far they may drift, always come back to each other. Sure enough, after the band’s long break, Pete and Patrick got back together, and started up the band once more. 

Patrick and Joe reminisced a lot, about their childhood and teenage years together. Only in private, though, because they still had to pretend they didn't know each other prior to their chance meeting in the bookstore. They think about their friends, who in this universe were in the band My Chemical Romance. They were glad they got to achieve their dreams too. They think about their families, and their time over there. But, most of all, they think of Pete and Andy, and how their actions changed their lives forever. Although they died so young, they still made an impact on the world they had lived in, and were making an even bigger difference during their second shot at life. Most of all, they were happy. They got their soulmates, and although they had their struggles, they were able to live successful lives doing what they were made to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! I want to thank everyone who read this whole story. All of your comments and kudos mean so much to me! And if you want more of my writing, you can check out the other story I'm currently working on, Foal Out Boy. Thank you so much for reading.


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